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P. S. You perceive something odd in my style, Something novel-attractive, I know by the smile, That I fancy I see playing over your cheek,

And that says—just as plain as a smile can well

speak

"The genius we all have admired so long

"In its garment of prose, breaks at last into song, "And we all of us thought, though his prose was

❝ divine,

"That his forte was poetic-and destined to shine "In the regions of fiction, he soon would pour forth "The most exquisite strains ever heard upon earth." 'Pon my soul, my dear Lord! you are truly propheticAnd your judgment so fine, so discreet, so pathetic, Is verified now-but 'tis right to confess That my Muse in her ardor and joy to express The delight that my fête and my lion inspired, Has been with an Eastern phraseology fired; And hence you will own, with emotions ecstatic, That my Muse and myself are now both asi-atic.

LETTER II.

FROM ACERBUS SKETCH, ESQ. TO

-'s Boarding House, Cheltenham, May, 1820.

FATIGUED with politics and news,

Wearied with "Radical Reform,"

In solitude I court the muse,

And seek her renovating charm. Well pleased does Fancy now retreat

From the dull dome of Downing Street,

From C

-h and state affairs,

To Nature's smiles and fragrant airs;
And true to friendship and to thee,

I sit me down contentedly

Even by the Chelt's* retiring banks,
Thro' which the modest streamlet runs,
Unconscious of the blooming ranks,

And eyes-that like unnumbered suns
Shed light and gladness on the tide,
its humble waves along,

That

pours

As softly murmuring they glide,

Like echoes of a Naiad's song!†

But well I know, nor babbling brook,
Nor the high tree that rocks the rook,
Nor lowly flower, nor budding thorn,
Nor the fresh smile of early morn,
Nor nature's charms, when loveliest
They smile in vernal verdure drest,

"A silver stream still rolls his waters near,
"Gilt with sun-beams here and there,

"On whose enamel'd bank I'll walk,

"And see how prettily they smile, and hear "How prettily they talk."

COWLEY'S COUNTRY LIFE.

Naiads, nymphs of the fountain.

Can win thy stern inquiring mind

From the deep study of thy kind-
"Man's proper study," by the way ;-
At once I dedicate my lay

To the gay groupes that round me swarm
Like May-bees round the honied hive,
When fields are green, and skies are warm
And all in nature seems alive!

-Thus then with brief respect I treat 'em,
And with French salutation greet 'em.
"Messieurs et Mesdames," as we say
In Parist salut et respect !"
Votaries of Fashion! who impart

To fashion's self the rules of art,

I know your art, and as the poet

Has said that "all must love that know it."+

"The proper study of mankind is man."-POPE.

This is the elegant mode of address from the French stage at least it was so when I was in Paris-but things may be otherwise now.

Quem não sabe a arte, nao a estima.--CAMOENS.

I love it too-have felt its power
In many a dull and tedious hour;

And hence with grateful zeal I prize
Dame Fashion and her votaries.

Trust me, kind souls! my gentle care

Your faults would rather spare,

very

Than one ungracious thorny line

Within your wreath of praise entwine;

But well I know the sympathy

That swells each breast, and fires each eye,

When censure in her bitter sport

Flings some poor brother " à la morte,'

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"Dans l'adversité de nos meilleurs amis nous trouvons quelque chose qui ne nous deplait pas," says Rochefoucault, and I fear he says too truly ;-experience has taught me to believe that this picture will not be found overchargedyet in my notices shall, I trust, give a lesson of moderation and forbearance worthy of emulation. To those who may feel aggrieved by the truth of my colouring, I will afford terms of accommodation and of truce;

"Desinant

"Maledicere, malefacta ne noscant sua."

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