172 



POETRY AND POETS. 



in all the solemn expression of in- 

 jured feelings : " This I do affirm, 

 that from all which I have written, 

 I never received the least benefit or 

 the least advantage, but, on the con- 

 trary, have felt sometimes the effects 

 of malice and misfortune." 



ADDISON'S COMPANIONS. 

 Addison's chief companions, be- 

 fore he married Lady Warwick, in 

 1716, were Steele, Budgell, Philips, 

 Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett. 

 He used to breakfast with one or 

 other of them, at his lodgings in St. 

 James's Place ; dine at taverns 

 with them ; then to Button's ; and 

 then to some tavern again for sup- 

 per in the eveniug: and this was 

 then the usual round of his life. 



TERCIVAL THE AMERICAN POET. 



Dr. Percival is one of the most 

 eccentric men in the world, and one 

 of the most learned. He lived a 

 long time in a garret literally a 

 garret, after the manner of the old 

 poets at New Haven, and had 

 very few companions, save his 

 books, cabinets, and herbarium. He 

 reads with fluency ten languages, 

 and is so familiar with the Latin, 

 Greek, French, Spanish, German, 

 and Italian, that he can take a work 

 never before seen by him, in any of 

 those languages, and read it in 

 English with as much correctness 

 and ease as he would one of his own 

 poems. 



For several years, he was engaged 

 in making a geological survey of 

 Connecticut ; and his report was 

 laid before the legislature of that 

 state, when a proposal to give the 

 copyright to the author, after a 

 certain number of copies should be 

 printed for the use of the state, was 

 discussed. On this occasion, one of 

 the members said, that " in his ex- 

 amination of our geology, Dr. Per- 

 cival had been upon one side at 

 least of every square mile in the 

 state, except where river or lake 



had interrupted his progress. He 

 had walked over every hill, plain, 

 and morass in Connecticut, with 

 his basket on his arm and his bag 

 on his back ; stopping at the farm- 

 houses at night, and resuming his 

 examination at early light." 



He was engaged in this work for 

 five years, and his salary never ex- 

 ceeded three hundred dollars per 

 annum. The legislature of course 

 adopted the proposal of giving to 

 him the copyright. He is one of 

 the poorest, as well as one of the 

 most meritorious, of our authors. 

 (Arvine.) 



NIC3IIT THOUGHTS. 



Dr. Young was fond of coffee in 

 an afternoon ; till, finding it pre- 

 judicial to his nerves, he intimated 

 his intention of abstaining from it. 

 His grandson, who was then a little 

 boy, inquired into the particular 

 motive that led him to this resolu- 

 tion. "My reason is," answered the 

 doctor, " because it keeps me awake 

 at night. I can't sleep for it." 

 " Then I beg you, sir, not to leave 

 off your coffee ; otherwise you will 

 give us no more Night Thoughts" 



Tasso's contradictory critics per- 

 plexed him with the most intricate 

 literary discussions, and probably 

 occasioned a mental alienation. We 

 find, In one of his letters, that he 

 repents the composition of his great 

 poem; for although his own taste 

 approved of the marvellous, which 

 still forms the nobler part of its 

 creation, yet he confesses that his 

 critics have decided that the his- 

 tory of his hero, Godfrey, required 

 another species of conduct. "Hence,"' 

 cries the unhappy bard, "doubts 

 vex me ; but for the past, and what 

 is done, I know of no remedy ; " and 

 he longs to precipitate the publica- 

 tion, that "he may be delivered 

 from misery and agony." He so- 

 lemnly swears that "did not the 



