present generation on the stream of oral citation, and are now often in the mouths of people who fancy that they belong to Swift or Gay. Many of her poems are, however, worthy of a better fate. They are distinguished by purity and elevation of sentiment, ease and strength of diction, and harmony of versification. In the last particular she received great praise from Johnson, who pronounced her to be "the best versificatrix in the English language."

We will give a few extracts. The first is from "Sensibility," a poem in which she claims for that quality the place which Mrs. Grenville, in a then wellknown ode, arrogated for " Indifference."

"Sweet sensibility! thou keen delight!
Unprompted moral! sudden sense of right!
Perception exquisite! fair virtue's seed!
Thou quick precursor of the liberal deed!
Thou hasty conscience! reason's blushing morn!
Instinctive kindness e'er reflection 's born!
Prompt sense of equity! to thee belongs
The swift redress of unexamined wrongs;
Eager to serve, the cause perhaps untried,
But always apt to choose the suffering side;
To those who know thee not no words can paint,
And those who know thee know all words are faint.
She does not feel thy power who boasts thy flame,
And rounds her every period with thy name.
As words are but th' external marks to tell

The fair ideas in the mind that dwell,
And only are of things the outward sign,
And not the things themselves they but define,
So exclamations, tender tones, fond tears,
And all the graceful drapery feeling wears, -
These are her garb, not her; they but express
Her form, her semblance, her appropriate dress;

J

And these fair marks, — reluctant I relate, —
These lovely symbols, may be counterfeit.
There are who fill with brilliant plaints the page,
If a
a poor linnet meet the gunner's rage;
There are who for a dying fawn deplore,
As if friend, parent, country, were no more;
Who boast, quick rapture trembling in their eye,

If from a spider's snare they snatch a fly;

There are whose well-sung plaints each breast inflame,
And break all hearts- but his from whence they came."

The "Bas Bleu" is a sprightly portraiture of what she considered to be the right constitution and character of social conversation. It is a vivacious image of that circle of gay and graceful conversers from whose appellation it takes its name. It was first circulated in manuscript, and we find Miss More apologizing to her sister for the shortness of a letter, on the ground that she had not a moment to spare, as she was copying the "Bas Bleu," for the king, at his request. Dr. Johnson pronounced it to be "a very great performance." To the author herself he expressed himself in yet stronger terms. She writes to her sister, "As to the 'Bas Bleu,' all the flattery I ever received from every body together would not make up his sum. He said

but I seriously insist you do not tell any body, for I am ashamed of writing it even to you-he said, 'there was no name in poetry that might not be glad to own it.' You cannot imagine how I stared; all this from Johnson, that parsimonious praiser! I told him I was delighted at his approbation; he answered quite characteristically, And so you may, for I give you the opinion of a man who does not rate his judgment

.

The fol

in these things very low, I can tell you."" lowing extract will give some idea of its merits:

"What lively pleasure to divine

The thought implied, the printed line!
To feel allusion's artful force,

And trace the image to its source!
Quick Memory blends her scattered rays,
Till Fancy kindles at the blaze;
The works of ages start to view,
And ancient wit elicits new.
But wit and parts if thus we praise,
What nobler altars shall we raise?
Those sacrifices could we see

Which wit, O virtue! makes to thee,
At once the rising thought to dash,
To quench at once the bursting flash!
The shining mischief to subdue,
And lose the praise and pleasure too!
Though Venus' self could you detect her
Imbuing with her richest nectar

The thought unchaste, to check that thought,
To spurn a fame so dearly bought, -
This is high principle's control,
This is true continence of soul.
Blush, heroes, at your cheap renown,
A vanquished realm, a plundered town·
Your conquests were to gain a name —
This conquest triumphs over fame."

"Florio" is a metrical tale of a young man of good principles and right feelings, who, from deference to fashion, has indulged in vanities and follies bordering on depravity, which he lays aside in disgust when virtue and good sense, in alliance with female loveliness, have made apparent to him the absurdity and danger of his aberrations. In the following extract the

reader will recognize some of those oft-quoted couplets of which we have spoken:

"Exhausted Florio, at the age

When youth should rush on glory's stage,
When life should open fresh and new,
And ardent Hope her schemes pursue,

Of youthful gayety bereft,

Had scarce an unbroached pleasure left;
He found already, to his cost,

The shining gloss of life was lost,
And Pleasure was so coy a prude,
She fled the more, the more pursued;
Or, if o'ertaken and caressed,
He loathed and left her when possessed.
But Florio knew the world; that science
Sets sense and learning at defiance;
He thought the world to him was known,
Whereas he only knew the town.

In men this blunder still you find :
All think their little set- mankind.

Though high renown the youth had gained,
No flagrant crimes his life had stained;
Though known among a certain set,

He did not like to be in debt;

He shuddered at the dicer's box,

Nor thought it very heterodox

That tradesmen should be sometimes paid,
And bargains kept as well as made.

His growing credit, as a sinner,
Was, that he liked to spoil a dinner,

Made pleasure and made business wait,
And still by system came too late;
Yet 'twas a hopeful indication
On which to found a reputation :
Small habits, well pursued, betimes
May reach the dignity of crimes;
And who a juster claim preferred
Than one who always broke his word?"

The death of Garrick may be considered an era in the life of Miss More. His wit, his gayety, his intelligence, added to his admiration of her genius, and the warmth of his friendship for her, formed the strongest spell that held her in subjection to the fascinations of brilliant society and town life. The early feeling which prompted the infant wish for "a cottage too low for a clock" was still fresh in her bosom. The country, with its green pastures and still waters, still retained its charms for her. "I have naturally," she writes, "but a small appetite for grandeur, which is always satisfied, even to indigestion, before I leave town; and I require a long abstinence to get any relish for it again." After the death of her friend, she carried into execution the resolution she had long cherished, of passing a portion of her time in retirement in the country. With this view, she possessed herself of a little secluded spot, which had acquired the name of "Cowslip Green," near Bristol.

Still, however, her sensibility to kindness would not let her withhold herself entirely from her London friends; her annual visits to Mrs. Garrick brought her back into contact with the world and its crowded resorts.

From her earliest acquaintance with society, she had seen with sorrow the levity of manners, the indifference to religion, and the total disregard of the Sabbath, which prevailed in its higher circles. Not content with holding herself uncontaminated, she felt it to be her duty to make an effort for a reformation, and with this end she published "Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society." To