206 POEM 



Oxford, to attend the obsequies of one of my younger 

 sisters, who had married and settled there, and had 

 fallen a victim to consumption, in the full bloom of 

 womanhood. 



After the funeral, " when the baked meats were coldly 

 furnished forth," usual on such lamentable occasions, our 

 grief was, in a great measure, alleviated by the kind 

 condolence of the officiating clergyman, who, it appeared, 

 was acquainted with my brother-in-law. He stopped 

 and spent the afternoon with us. By his conversation T 

 discovered that he was from the Principality, and at 

 that time was engaged in collecting, arranging, and, I 

 believe, in translating, the productions of the old Welsh 

 Bards for the Society of Ancient Britons. 



This led to a discourse on our modern English poets, 

 and their several merits. I then, after relating to him 

 the cause of my entering the lists, and the subject, 

 ventured — with his permission — to repeat the few lines 

 I had already written. He expressed his surprise and 

 admiration in very flattering terms, and, with all the 

 ardour of a devotee of the Muses, urged me, nay, 

 prayed of me, to go on with it. 



I promised compliance ; and in the course of the spring 

 and summer, unrestricted by the conditions that confined 

 the poem to 200 lines, completed it in a little more 

 than 500. 



Meeting my friend in the May Term, he told me, in 

 answer to my inquiry, that he had written his poem and 

 sent it in, and that his tutor had assured him that he 

 had a very good chance of success. 



" I am very happy to hear it," said I. 



