HENRY CAREY, author and composer of "God Save the King," was reduced to such abject poverty, that, in a fit of desperation, October 4, 1743, he laid violent hands upon himself.

CORNEILLE suffered all the horrors of poverty. This great Poet used to say, his poetry went away with his teeth. Some will think that they ought to disappear at the same time, as one would not give employment to the other.

Of

There is no doing without a patron. CHURCHILL'S "Rosciad," which had so great a run afterwards, ten copies were sold in the first five days: in four days more, six copies were sold: but, when Garrick found himself praised in it, he set it afloat, and Churchill then reaped a large harvest.

DANTE had not the good fortune to please his patron at Verona. The great Candella Scala gave him to understand that he was weary of him, and told him one day, it is a wonderful thing that such a one, who is a fool, should please us all, and make himself beloved by every body, which you, who are accounted a wise

man, cannot do. "This is not to be wondered at," answered Dante; "you would not admire such a thing, if you knew how much the conformity of characters knits men together."

FALCONER'S deaf and dumb sister, notwithstanding the success of the "Shipwreck," was, not many years since, and, perhaps, still is, the tenant of an hospital, says some modern writer; we believe, D'Israeli.

SAVAGE was in continual distress, independent of an unnatural mother's persecution: he sold his "Wanderer" for ten pounds.

SPENSER lived in misery and depression. It is thought Lord Burleigh withheld the bounty Queen Elizabeth intended for Spenser. But he is more clearly stigmatized in these remarkable lines, where the misery of dependence on courtfavour is painted in fine colours:

"Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried,
What hell it is, in suing long to bide;
To lose good days, that might be better spent ;
To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow,
To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;

To have thy princess' grace, yet want her peers';
To have thy asking, yet wait many years;
To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares;
To eat thy heart thro' comfortless despairs;
To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run n;
To spend, to give, to want, to be undone.”

MOTHER HUBBARD'S TALE.

These lines exasperated still more the in elegant, the illiberal, Burleigh. So true is the observation of Mr. Hughes, that, even the sighs of a miserable man are sometimes resented as an affront by him that is the occasion of them.

CHRISTOPHER SMART, the translator of "Horace," and no mean poet, died in the rules of the King's Bench. Poor Smart, when at Pembroke .College, wore a path upon one of the paved walks.

THOMSON'S first part of his " Seasons," Winter, lay like waste paper at the bookseller's, till a gentleman of taste, Mr. Michell, promulgated its merits in the best circles, and then all was right. Thomson got from Andrew Millar, in 1729, one hundred and thirty-seven

pounds ten shillings for "Sophonisba," a tragedy, and "Spring," a poem. For the rest of the " Seasons," and some other pieces, one hundred and five pounds of John Millar; which were again sold to Millar, nine years afterwards, for one hundred and five pounds. When Millar died, his executors sold the whole copy-right to the trade for five hundred and five pounds.

Gray, the Poet, speaks thus of Thomson:"He has lately published a poem, called the 'Castle of Indolence,' in which there are some good stanzas." "In an ordinary critic, possessed of one-hundredth part of his sensibility and taste, such total indifference to the beauties of this exquisite performance would be utterly impossible."(Stewart's Philos. Essays.)

RICHARD EDWARDS.

THIS Poet, who enjoyed considerable eminence in the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, was born about 1523. He early became a courtier, and, in the year 1561, was constituted a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and Master of the singing boys.

When Queen Elizabeth visited Oxford in

1566, she was attended by Edwards, who was on this occasion employed to compose a play called "Palamon and Arcite," which was acted before her Majesty in Christ Church Hall. Another of his plays is entitled "The Tragical Comedy of Damon and Pythias:" it was acted at Court, and is reprinted in Dodsley's Collection. This is a very curious specimen of the early English Drama, when it was approaching to something of a regular form; and there is much humour in the dialogue of some of the inferior characters: but the scenes intended to be serious are many of them full of low and ludicrous expressions.

The following may serve to give some idea of the style of this heterogenous composition.

"CARISOPHUS.

The sturdy kuave is gone, the devil him take!

He hath made my head, shoulders, arms, sides, and all to ake.

Thou whoreson villain boy, why didst thou wait no better? As he paid me, so will I not die thy debtor.

JACK.

Master, why do you fight with me? I am not your match,

you see;

You durst not fight with him that's gone, and will you wreak your anger on me?