124 THE POET OF THE FENS 



opiileut ; and it is well known that men confined to 

 employments that require their immediate superinten- 

 dence are not so apt generally to catch at the advantages 

 of social and intellectual improvement as they are to 

 enjoy the prospect and revel in the reality of increasing 

 abundance. 



Hence the disparity of wealth and intelligence so 

 jDalpable in the laity in this district ; hence, too, the 

 princely incomes of some of our more favoured clergy ; 

 but, as we have witnessed the great improvement made 

 in the last generation or two, we may safely conclude that 

 not another will pass away without railroads com- 

 pleting what a stage-coach begun — that is, without 

 reaping the benefits of that free and familiar inter- 

 course which marks the progress of civilization among 

 the people. 



Amidst this waste of waters there are gems to be found 

 of more than usual brightness. In this wilderness of 

 rushes flowers can be plucked of exceeding beauty and 

 fragrance, quite enough to embody the poet's sublime 

 idea, — 



" Full many a gem of purest ray serene 



The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear ; 

 Full many a tlower is born to blush unseen, 

 And waste its sweetness in the desert air." 



The productions of Harrison, the Poet of the Fens, as he 

 lias been termed, have never yet been collected ; but from 

 what I remember to have seen of them, they were quite 

 equal to many writings of the present day, as well in the 

 air of wholesome sentiment they breathe, as in the terse- 

 ness and vigour of their style. The poems of Withers, 



