out with an exquisite delicacy and even serenity of execution, but informed with a purity and loftiness of feeling, and a certain sober and humble tone of indulgence and piety, which must satisfy those who are most afraid of the passionate exaggerations of poetry. The diction is always beautiful, harmonious, and free; and the themes, though of infinite variety, uniformly treated with a grace, originality, and judgment which marks the master-hand. We do not hesitate to say that she is, beyond all comparison, the most touching and accomplished writer of occasional verses that our literature has yet to boast of."- Lord Jeffrey.

MRS. ANNE GRANT, 1755-1838, generally known as "Mrs. Grant of Laggan," was a writer of some note.

Mrs. Grant was the daughter of Duncan McVicar, of the British army, and was a native of Glasgow. In 1758, her father having been ordered to America, she followed with her mother, and spent some years in Albany. There, at the age of eight, she made the acquaintance of "Madame Schuyler," whom she has commemorated in one of her works. At the age of thirteen, she returned with her parents to Scotland, and at the age of twenty-four she was married to the Rev. James Grant, of Laggan. From Laggan she removed in 1810 to Edinburgh, at which latter place she remained till her death, at the age of eighty-four.

Mrs. Grant was highly esteemed by Sir Walter Scott, Bishop Porteus, Sir Walter Farquhar, and others, and was for a long time one of the established celebrities of Edinburgh. The following are her principal works: The Highlanders and Other Poems: Eighteen Hundred and Thirteen, a Poem; Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders; Memoirs of an American Lady (Mrs. Schuyler); Letters from the Mountains (being her correspondence with her friends).

"Her writings, deservedly popular in her own country, derive their success from the happy manner in which, addressing themselves to the national pride of the Scottish people, they breathe a spirit at once of patriotism and of that candor which renders patriotism unselfish and liberal."- Sir Walter Scott,

"Her poetry is really not very good: and the most tedious, and certainly the least poetical, volume which she has produced, is that which contains her verses. The longest piece-which she has entitled The Highlanders-is heavy and uninteresting; and there is a want of compression and finish-a sort of loose, rambling, and indigested air-in most of the others. Yet the whole collection is enlivened with the sparklings of a prolific fancy, and displays great command of language and facility of versification."- Jeffrey.

Elizabeth Landon.

LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON, afterwards Mrs. Maclean, and generally known as L. E. L., 1802-1838, was one of the literary celebrities in the early part of this century.

She was a native of London, and daughter of Dr. Landon, Dean of Exeter. She began writing poetry at an early age, and became a stated contributor to the London Literary Gazette. In 1838, she was married to Mr. George Maclean, Governor of Cape Coast Castle, and sailed for her new home. There, in October of the same year, she died from an accidental overdose of prussic acid, -an article which she had been in the habit of taking for hysteric affections.

Miss Landon had attained a high reputation, especially by her poetry, and was at

the time of her death one of the celebrities of the literary world. She was undoubtedly a woman of genius, and had she lived, she might have achieved substantial and permanent greatness. But her works, when read at the distance of thirty or forty years from the time of their composition, and apart from the romantic circumstances of her life, do not confirm the judgment of her contemporaries.

Works. -The following list embraces most of her poems: Adelaide, a small Ro mance; To Be, and other Poems; The Improvisatrice, and other Poems; The Troubadour; a Catalogue of Pictures and Historic Sketches; The Golden Violet, and other Poems; The Venetian Bracelet; The Lost Pleiad; A History of the Lyre, etc. She wrote also several novels, Ethel Churchill, Francisco Carrara, The Vow of the Peacock, Romance and Reality, Traits and Trials of Early Life, Duty and Imagination, etc. Her poetical works have been collected in 4 vols., 8vo. After her death, a considerable number of her works appeared posthumously, besides The Zenana, and other Poems, with a Memoir by Emma Robert, and Life and Literary Remains, 2 vols., 8vo, by Laman Blanchard.

"Her deficiency alike in judgment and taste made her wayward and capricious, and her efforts seemed frequently impulsive. Hence she gave to the public a great deal too much, a large part of her writings being destitute of that elaboration, care, and finish essentially necessary to the fine arts, even when in combination with the highest genius, to secure permanent success; for the finest poetry is that which is suggestive, -the result as much of what has been studiously withheld as of what has been elaborately given. It is quite apparent, however, that L. E. L. had opened her eyes to these her defects, and was rapidly overcoming them; for her very last thingsthose published in her Remains by Laman Blanchard — are incomparably her best, whether we regard vigorous conception, concentration of ideas, or judicious selection of subject. Her faults originated in an enthusiastic temperament and an efflorescent fancy, and showed themselves, as might have been expected, in an uncurbed prodigality of glittering imagery, - her muse, untamed and untutored, ever darting in dalliance from one object to another, like the talismanic bird in the Arabian story." -Moir.

Crabbe.

George Crabbe, 1754-1832, is the poet of the poor and the lowly. Though not so much read as he once was, he still holds his place as a favorite with the public.

Career. Crabbe was born in humble circumstances, and in working his way upward encountered many hardships. He was first apprenticed to a surgeon, but disliking the business, and having an inward yearning for literary life, he left his lowly home in the country, and set out, with five pounds in his pocket, for London. Then he made sundry attempts to gain literary employment, but, like most needy adventurers in such circumstances, he met with a cold reception, and was almost in despair, when, as a last resort, he applied to Edmund Burke. Burke listened to his story, and being satisfied that his abilities were of a high order, gave him prompt and effective support.

By the advice of Burke, Crabbe prepared himself for holy orders and entered the ministry. He also became acquainted with the distin

guished men who formed Burke's circle of friends, Thurlow, Fox, Reynolds, Johnson, and others. By these means, he obtained ecclesiastical patronage, and a recognition of his literary merits. The Library, which first appeared, was favorably received, and brought him substantial returns. After several changes in his clerical position, he finally settled down in a pleasant country parish in Wiltshire.

Works. The first poem that obtained a marked success was The Village. It contained vivid descriptions of scenes among the poor, such as he himself had been familiar with, and it was instantly and thoroughly popular. After that, whatever he produced was in demand. His other poems are: The Parish Register, The Borough, Tales in Verse, and Tales of the Hall. On bringing out the one last named, Murray the publisher gave him for it, and for the unexpired term of the former copyrights, the sum of £3000. Mr. Crabbe had naturally a cheerful disposition, and the close of his life was calm and peaceful.

The chief characteristic of his poetry is the extreme accuracy of the descriptions, and his partiality for subjects which are in themselves dull and even forbidding. He was undoubtedly a poet of great power and even, at times, of tenderness, but his pathos is usually linked to something coarse and humiliating. The reader is affected, but he is not drawn to read a second time.

Heber.

Reginald Heber, D. D., 1783-1826, is justly celebrated for his noble work as a missionary Bishop in India, and for his missionary hymn, "From Greenland's icy mountains."

Career. Heber was educated at Oxford, where he was distinguished for his classical scholarship, and for the elegance of his English style. His learning, accomplishments, and genius would have insured him high preferment in the church, had he remained at home. In accepting the Bishopric at Calcutta, he was influenced by the true self-denying spirit of a Christian minister, and he entered upon its duties with the greatest zeal. He died in India, at the early age of forty-three.

Works. The following are his principal works: Palestine, a Poem, which gained a prize at Oxford, while the author was a student there; Europe, Lines on the Present War, 1809; Hymns, adapted to the Weekly Church Service; A Journey through India, 2 vols., 4to; Sermons, several volumes. Bishop Heber was one of the most accomplished and scholarly divines that the Church of England has produced in modern times. His one Missionary Hymn, however, will survive all else that he wrote or did, and will carry his memory to the latest generation.

"Fine as some of these (Oxford) prize poems have unquestionably been, more especially Porteus's Death, Glynn's Day of Judgment, Grant's Restoration of Learning, and Wrangham's Holy Land, still, it is doubtful whether Heber has been equalled either by any preceding or succeeding competitor. It is admirably sustained throughout; and indeed the passages relating to the building of the Temple, and to the scenes on Calvary, pass from the magnificent almost into the sublime."- Moir.

"These Hymns have been by far the most popular of his productions, and deservedly so; for in purity and elevation of sentiment, in simple pathos, and in eloquent earnestness, it would be difficult to find anything superior to them in the range of lyric poetry. They have the home-truth of Watts, but rank much higher as literary compositions than the Moral and Divine Songs of that great benefactor of youth; and all the devotion of Wesley or Keble, without their language and diffuse verbosity. Heber always writes like a Christian scholar, and never finds it necessary to lower his tone on account of his subject."- Moir.

"This is another book for Englishmen to be proud of. He surveys everything with the vigilance and delight of a cultivated and most active intellect, with the eye of an artist, an antiquary, and a naturalist, the feelings and judgment of an English gentleman and scholar, the sympathies of a most humane and generous man, and the piety, charity, and humility of a Christian. Independently of its moral attraction, we are induced to think it, on the whole, the most instructive and important publication that has ever been given to the world on the actual state and condition of our Indian Empire." Lord Jeffrey.

Hogg.

JAMES HOGG, 1770–1835, is known as The Ettrick Shepherd."

Hogg was born in a cottage on the banks of the Ettrick River in Selkirkshire, Scotland. The only regular education that the young poet received was six months' schooling before he was eight years old. His early life he passed as a shepherd in the service of Mr. Laidlaw. Some of his poems happening to fall into the hands of Sir Walter Scott, attracted that author's attention. One of his songs, Donald McDonald, was set to music and was widely spread. He also contributed to Sir Walter Scott's Border Minstrelsy.

In 1813 Hogg published his most celebrated work, The Queen's Wake, a collection of seventeen ballads, and subsequently a number of scattered pieces. He also wrote several stories in prose, the principal of which is the Brownie of Bodstock, and he projected a series of Altrive peasant tales, only one volume of which was published. Like Burns, Hogg was at one time the lion of Scotch society. The latter part of his life was spent in rustic retirement. Hogg's poetry has received its full measure of praise, and although no longer the fashion is still much read and enjoyed. The poems are by no means equal in execution, but those that are good are very good - the sparkling emanations of a pure poetic fancy.

Bloomfield.

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD, 1766-1823, an unlettered shoemaker, while working in a garret with six or seven others, composed a poem, The Farmer's Boy, which set all England ablaze, and made its author, for the time, "the observed of all observers."

In three years, twenty-six thousand copies of The Farmer's Boy were sold,—an enormous sale for those days, and the book was reprinted on the continent, besides being translated into French, Italian, and Latin. The whole of this poem was composed in the author's head and completed, before a line of it was written. He could at first find no publisher for it, but succeeded at length through the patronage of Capel Lofft, a man of wealth as well as of letters, who saw the merits of the work.

Relieved from the necessities of manual labor, Bloomfield devoted himself to authorship, and produced several other works, but none equal to his first. Among them Rurai Tales, Ballads and Songs; Good Tidings, or News from the Farm; Wild Flowers; Banks of the Wye; May-Day with the Muses.

The verdict of the critics as to the merits of The Farmer's Boy has been almost unanimous. Of our uneducated poets, who have risen to fame, he stands next probably to Burns, though certainly at a long distance below Burns. "In true pastoral imagery and simplicity, I do not think any production can be put in competition with it since the days of Theocritus."- Dr. Nathan Drake. "The Farmer's Boy is by far the best written, as to style and composition, of any of the works of our uneducated poets. The melody of the versification is often exceedingly beautiful.” Blackwood.

Bloomfield is not much read now. The quiet scenes of country life which he describes are too tame to suit the present taste. Besides, the universal and romantic circumstances attending his introduction to the literary world led naturally, for a time, to an exaggerated estimate. His work was compared, not with the great works of all time, but with what might be expected from a poor, uneducated laborer, working in his garret in the daily toil and struggle for bread.

Pollok.

ROBERT POLLOK, 1799-1827, acquired for a time a prodigious reputation by his poem, The Course of Time.

Pollok was a native of Scotland. He studied at the University of Glasgow, and was about entering the ministry when cut down by disease, brought on by excessive study. Pollok is the author of three stories, collected under the name of the Tales of the Covenanters, now but little read, and of The Course of Time, a poem which has been widely spread throughout Scotland and America.

The Course of Time.- This poem was at one time a great favorite, and is still read and admired by many. The commonly received opinion is that it has many good and even brilliant passages, but that, as a whole, it is weak in conception, and weak in execution. It is the work of an immature mind. In passing judgment upon The Course of Time, however, it should be kept in mind that its author died too young to reach maturity. For one of his age it is certainly a remarkable production, leaving on the mind of the reader a deep regret that Pollok could not have attained to full development.

JOHN FINLAY, 1782–1810, a poet of some note, was born in Glasgow, and studied at the University there.

Finlay died young. He wrote Wallace, or the Vale of Ellerslie; Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads; Life of Cervantes. "His chief poem, Wallace, which was written at the age of nineteen, is doubtless an imperfect composition; but it displays a wonderful power of versification, and contains many splendid descriptions of external nature. It possesses both the merits and defects which we look for in the early compositions of true genius. The collection of Historical and Romantic Ballads entitles Finlay to a place among Scottish antiquaries, and to follow those of Walter Scott and Robert Jamieson."- Blackwood.

JEREMIAH HOLME WIFFIN, 1792-1836, was a member of the Society of Friends. He