scrape, and, like a soldier, puts the best face he can upon it." Those
still exist who were witnesses to his exultation when one morning he
entered Mrs----'s drawing-room, with an open letter in his hand, and,
in his peculiarly joyous and animated manner, exclaimed, "Don't be
surprised if I play all sorts of antics! I am like a child with a new
rattle! Here is a letter from my friend Lord Byron, telling me he has
dedicated to me his poem of the 'Corsair.' Ah, Mrs.----, it is nothing
new for a poor poet to dedicate his poem to a great lord; but it is
something passing strange for a great lord to dedicate his book to
a poor poet." Those who know him most intimately feel no sort of
hesitation in declaring, that he has again and again been heard to
express regret at the earlier efforts of his muse; or reluctance in
stating, at the same time, as a fact, that Mr. M., on two different
occasions, endeavoured to repurchase the copyright of certain poems;
but, in each instance, the sum demanded was so exorbitant, as of itself
to put an end to the negotiation. The attempt, however, does him honour.
And, affectionate father as he is well known to be, when he looks at his
beautiful little daughter, and those fears, and hopes, and cares, and
anxieties, come over him which almost choke a parent's utterance as he
gazes on a promising and idolized child, he will own the censures passed
on those poems to be just: nay more--every year will find him more and
more sensible of the paramount importance of the union of female purity
with female loveliness--more alive to the imperative duty, on a
father's part, to guard the maiden bosom from the slightest taint of
licentiousness. It is a fact not generally suspected, though his last
work, "The Epicurean," affords strong internal evidence of the truth of
the observation, that few are more thoroughly conversant with Scripture
than himself. Many of Alethe's most beautiful remarks are simple
paraphrases of the sacred volume. He has been heard to quote from it
with the happiest effect--to say there was no book like it--no book,