"the isle of palms." 117 



" On the death of Gough among the hills — different view of it 

 from W. and Scott. 



" City after a plague — awful and wild, solemn. 



" Town and country — vigorous and bold. 



" On the Greek sculpture — in strong heroics. 



" The murderer and the babe — a contrast ; the moral to be — to 

 watch well our own hearts against vice." 



A calculation is then given for a volume of 500 pages out of a 

 selection of this large list, in which 1 70 are allotted to " St. Hu- 

 bert," and 50 each to "The Manse" and "The Ocean Queen," and 

 to the " City after a Plague" only 5. The proposed volume did 

 not appear till January, 1816, not from any lack of materials, but 

 in consequence of a change of plan, the " City after a Plague" hav- 

 ing developed into a drama, instead of St. Hubert, while of the 

 other subjects very few were ever wrought out, and some that 

 were have been withheld from posterity. Of subjects completed 

 and published, the titles of some will be recognized from the above 

 extract. It is perhaps to be regretted that so rich a promise did 

 not come to perfection ; but it was no sudden or fortuitous impulse 

 that made the poet choose to develop his poetical powers in another 

 form than that of verse. 



So much meantime of poetry. Of the four happy years that were 

 passed in the cottage at Elleray, from 1811 to 1815, there is little 

 to be recorded. It would appear that in the former year he had 

 come to the resolution of joining the Scottish Bar, and, in that view, 

 became a member of the Speculative Society, then in a highly flour- 

 ishing condition. He must of course have spent some part of the 

 succeeding winters in Edinburgh, but the only trace of the matter 

 I find is the following allusion in a letter from his friend Blair, dated 

 December, 1813 : — 



" My dear John :— I desire very much to hear further from 

 you, and to know how your great soul accommodates itself to the 

 Law Class, and other judicial sufferings and degradations, and more 

 about your Greek and polite literature." 



I find also, that he opened, on the 4th of January, 1814, the de- 

 bate in the Speculative Society— topic, " Has the War on the Con- 

 tinent been glorious to the Spanish nation ?" — in the affirmative, 

 when the majority of the Society voted with him. He only wrote, 

 it appears, one Essay for that Society on " some political institutions 



