SAMUEL ROGERS. 



165 



aisle, called Prior Silkstead's Cha- 

 pel. A large black marble slab is 

 placed over his remains ; and to 

 use the poetical language of Mr. 

 Bowles, "the morning sunshine 

 falls directly on it, reminding the 

 contemplative man of the mornings 

 when he was, for so many years, 

 up and abroad with his angle, on 

 the baiiks of the neighbouring 

 stream." 



CURIOUS TITLE. 



The title which George Gas- 

 coigne, who had great merit in his 

 day, has given to his collection, 

 may be considered a specimen of 

 the titles of his times. They were 

 printed in 1576. He calls it "A 

 Hundred Sundrie Flowres bounde 

 vp in one small Poesie: gathered 

 partly by translation in the fyne 

 and outlandish gardens of Euri- 

 pides, Ovid, Petrarke, Ariosto, and 

 others; and partly by invention 

 out of our own fruitefull orchardos 

 inEnglande; yielding sundrie sweet 

 savours of tragicall, comicall, and 

 inorall discourses, both pleasaunt 

 and profitable to the well-smelling 

 noses of learned readers." 



THE FIRST POET LAUREATE. 



The first mention of the king's 

 poet, under the appellation of lau- 

 reate, was John Kay, who was 

 appointed poet laureate to Edward 

 IV. It is extraordinary that he 

 should have left no pieces of poetry 

 to prove his pretensions in some 

 degree to this office, with which he 

 is said to have been invested by the 

 king, at his return from Italy. 



The only composition he has left 

 to posterity is a prose English 

 translation of a Latin history of 

 the siege of Rhodes. In the dedi- 

 cation, addressed to King Edward, 

 or rather in the title, he styles 

 himself "hys humble poete lau- 

 reate." Although this our laureate 

 furnishes ua with no materials as 

 a poet, yet Ms office, which here 



occurs for the first time under this 

 denomination, must not pass un- 

 noticed in the annals of literature. 



SAMUEL ROGERS. 



A writer in an American periodi- 

 cal, in 1845, gives the following 

 description of a visit to Samuel 

 Rogers : 



" Samuel Rogers is an excep- 

 tion to the almost general rule, 

 that authors are poor. And who 

 has not, at some time or other, 

 heard of the author of Pleasures of 

 Memory ? He is not gifted, as 

 Byron was, with beauty of person ; 

 so far from it, he is the very oppo- 

 site of ' good looking,' as it is termed ; 

 but he is rich a very Croesus. A 

 London banker, he can draw checks 

 alike on the Bank of England and 

 on the treasury of the Muses ; and, 

 what is better, find each duly hon- 

 oured. He has an exquisite taste, 

 and possesses abundantly the means 

 of gratifying it. Art lays her tri- 

 butes at his feet, and Genius is at 

 his beck and call. For him Science 

 labours, and at his bidding Music 

 pours forth its melodious offerings. 

 He possesses the magic talisman 

 MONEY which, like the slave of 

 the lamp, in the Arabian tale, ful- 

 fils all his requirements, and sur- 

 rounds him with all that heart can 

 wish. Verily, if wealth, taste, and 

 refinement can confer happiness on 

 mortals, Samuel Rogers must be a 

 satisfied man. 



" About six years ago, while on 

 a visit to some friends in London, 

 I spent a day with Coleridge, who 

 then resided with Mr. Giluian, at 

 Highgate. While there, the poet 

 received a note from Mr. Rogers, 

 inviting him to breakfast, in St. 

 James's Place on tho following 

 morning. Coleridge, knowing that 

 it would gratify me to accompany 

 him, very kindly asked me to do so, 

 saying that he could take the liberty 

 of introducing a friend, and I agreed 

 to go. 



