tured on matrimony, and accepted the curacy of Stathern in the vale of Belvoir. After four years he procured an advantageous exchange of his livings for two others in Leicestershire. In 1814 he was presented by the Duke of Rutland to the living of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, whither he went to reside. In 1822 he visited Sir Walter Scott at Edinburgh. His was a green old age; "frosty but kindly." He died at Trowbridge, February 3rd, 1832. His chief works are "The Village” (1783); “The Parish Register" (1807); "The Borough " (1810); "Tales in Verse" (1812); "Tales of the Hall" (1819). The poems of Crabbe are remarkable for their realism, and their hard presentation of a benevolence that was yet above suspicion. Byron concisely and not unhappily describes him as "Nature's severest painter, yet the best." HYMN. O Thou! who taught my infant eye Spirit of Light, do Thou impart How vain my powers, how poor my frame; No more let me in vain surprise The Fountain of her works in Thee. Fond man! yon glassy mirror eye; Then wilt thou say-and rear no more HENRY KIRKE WHITE, who, like Defoc and Akenside, was the son of a butcher, was born at Nottingham, March 21, 1785, and was destined by his father for the same business. He left this inglorious occupation to follow the employment of stocking weaving, which he deserted for the more ambitious duties of an attorney's office. But all this time his hopes pointed first to the bar, and in default of that to the church, as a profession; and in the midst of his ordinary pressing duties "he contrived to devote a portion of his time to the acquisition of considerable knowledge in the Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian languages; in astronomy and music; and learned to play the pianoforte." In his seventeenth year 999 he secured the patronage of Capel Lofft, Esq., and of Mr. Hill, who encouraged him, in 1802, to publish his "Clifton Grove," and other poems. His hopes of realizing by this publication a sum sufficient to support him at the university, are said to have been "blasted by the malignant criticisms of the 'Monthly Review.' However, after some difficulty, he succeeded in satisfying the requirements of the Elland Society, which now charged itself with the expenses of his academical education. At Cambridge he distinguished himself by the excellence of his Latin verses; and by his success in obtaining college prizes, he was enabled to free himself from further pecuniary obligations to his patrons. Unfortunately he ruined a delicate constitution by his hard and unremittent reading, and died on the 19th of October. 1806. 66 Besides the "Clifton Grove," Kirke White's most important production is the Christiad," an unfinished epic. There is little doubt that his premature and picturesque death served to invest his works with an interest that their excellence alone could not have commanded; and what has been taken merely for promise is very likely nearer to his sum of possible performance than his admirers would be readily willing to suppose. THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. When marshalled on the mighty plain, Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks, Once on the raging seas I rode, The storm was loud, the night was dark, The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed The wind that tossed my foundering bark. · Deep horror then my vitals froze, It was the Star of Bethlehem. It was my guide, my light, my all, Now safely moored-my perils o'er, For ever and for evermore, The Star!-the Star of Bethlehem! RESIGNATION. Yes, 'twill be over soon. This sickly dream Yon landscape smile,-yon golden harvest grow, They laugh in health, and future evils brave: Them shall a wife and smiling children bless, While I am mouldering in my silent grave. God of the just-Thou gav'st the bitter cup; I bow to thy behest, and drink it up. HERBERT KNOWLES, a youthful poet, whose fame, like that of Wolfe, is almost entirely based upon a single poem, was born at Canterbury, in 1798. At the age of eighteen, he produced the following "fine religious stanzas, which, being published in the Quarterly Review,' soon obtained general circulation and celebrity; they have much of the steady faith and devotional earnestness of Cowper." Knowles died in the year 1817. 6 "It is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias."-MATT. xvii. 4. Methinks it is good to be here, If Thou wilt, let us build-but for whom? But the shadows of eve that encompassed with gloom, The abode of the dead and the place of the tomb. Shall we build to Ambition ? Ah no! Affrighted, he shrinketh away; For see, they would pin him below In a small narrow cave, and, begirt with cold clay, |