an English Dictionary and Grammar, Ovid, Josephus, seven plays by Shakespeare, and a few more by other writers; Dryden's Virgil, Hudibras, and the works of Waller and Prior. Duck had, it seems, been always fond of poetry and music, though hitherto the best specimens of either which he had had an opportunity of enjoying had been only a few rustic ballads. But his perusal of some of the above works inspired him with new enthusiasm, and in no long time he began to attempt writing verses himself. The first poetical work by which he was greatly struck was Paradise Lost. Yet he read it through twice or thrice, with the aid of his dictionary, before he understood what little learning he had ever possessed. Still, as he used afterwards to tell, even at this time his thoughts were often engaged on subjects very foreign to his daily employments. At last he began to read a little, and this gradually inspired him with a desire to recover his lost knowledge, scanty as it had been. At this time he was about twenty-four years of age, with a wife and family to support; and, being engaged in hard work all day, he had but very little time for study. He was also without books, and had no money to buy any. Yet such was his ardour to obtain the means of instructing himself, that for some time, whenever he had an hour's release from his regular employ-it. The new beauties he was ment, he devoted it to extra continually discovering, howwork; and in this way he saved ever, made all this labour demoney enough to purchase, first, lightful. He studied the book, a treatise on vulgar fractions, we are told, as a student of then one on decimal fractions, Greek or Latin would do one and lastly, one on land survey- of the ancient classics, and ing. All these works he made making all the while as much himself master of by studying use of his dictionary and gramthem during the night, when mar as if it had been written everybody about him was asleep. in a foreign language. These Soon after this he became inti- literary labours were still genemately acquainted with a person rally pursued during the night. in the same condition of life as Sometimes, however, he used to himself, but who had passed take a book with him in his some years in service in London, pocket when he went out to his whence he had brought down a daily work in the fields; and if few dozens of books with him by working with more activity to the country. Of these some than usual he could get through were treatises on arithmetic; what he had to do in less than among the others were the Bible, the usual time, he would devote Paradise Lost, the Spectator, the few precious moments he had Seneca's Morals, Telemachus, gained to the perusal of his book, Even while at work he often a quarto volume, which made its appearance in that year. Besides the general reputation which the author acquired by this publication, it procured for him the particular favour and patronage of Queen Caroline, who immediately settled upon him a pension of thirty pounds a year. employed himself in composing verses. It was some time before he thought of committing any of his compositions to paper, but at last he was induced to address a letter in verse to a gentleman, who, having heard of his acquirements, had sought him out, and made his acquaintance; and this effusion having been shown to several other persons, was generally regarded as a very surprising performance for one in his circumstances. Some clergymen, in particular, to whom it was submitted, were so much pleased with it, that they rewarded the author with a small gratuity. From this time his talents began to be generally talked of; and, encouraged by the praise he received, he did not suffer his poetical faculty to lie dormant. The consequence was, that in a short time he had accumulated a respectable store of verse. It seems to have been not long before the year 1730 that Duck attracted the notice of the Rev. Mr. Spence, already mentioned as the patron of Robert Hill, the learned tailor, and the blind poet Blacklock. Spence, who did himself great credit by the interest he took in these cases of indigent merit, immediately conceived the idea of bringing the claims of his protegé betore the public in the most effective manner, through the press; and accordingly as many of his poems were collected as formed In 1733 he was made one of the Yeomen of the Guard. He now applied himself to the study of the Latin language; in which having made some progress, he was admitted into holy orders. On this the queen appointed him, in the first instance, keeper of her library at Richmond; and in a short time after he was preferred to the living of Byfleet, in Surrey. Meanwhile a second edition of his poems had appeared in 1736, to which we find the names of the queen and other members of the royal family prefixed as subscribers. Duck became much beloved and respected by the people of Byfleet in his capacity of pastor, and lived there happily for many years. But the termination of his history is very melancholy. He at last fell into low spirits, and drowned himself in the Thames near Reading, in the year 1756. His poems have now long been forgotten. They had little merit except considerable smoothness of versification, which even in those days the example of Pope had rendered a common quality. CHAPTER XXXII. HENRY KIRKE WHITE-HAWKESWORTH-OLIVER GOLDSMITH MOSES MENDELSSOHN. In selecting our examples from the class at present under review, of those who in the midst of unfavourable circumstances have distinguished themselves by their ardour in the pursuit of knowledge, there is one name not to be omitted, that of the gifted and amiable HENRY KIRKE WHITE. As it is probable, however, that most of our readers are acquainted with the narrative of his life, which has been so delightfully written by Robert Southey, we shall confine ourselves to a short notice of its leading incidents. He was born in 1785, at Nottingham, where his father followed the business of a butcher. He was sent to school at three years of age, and soon became so fond of reading, that, when he had got his book in his hand, it was difficult to get him even to leave it for a few minutes that he might take his meals. When no more than seven he began to attempt to express his ideas on paper; his first com position being a tale, which, ashamed to show it to any one else, he communicated to the servant, to whom he had for some time been secretly giving instructions in writing. His school acquisitions before the age of eleven, in addition to reading and writing, were arithmetic and French, in both of which studies he had already distinguished himself above all his schoolfellows. Soon after this he also began to write verse. His father, however, who was anxious to bring him up to his own business, although very much against both his own wish and that of his mother, now insisted that he should be employed one whole day in the week, and during his leisure hours on others, in carrying the butcher's basket. But he expressed so much dislike to this occupation that it was at last arranged that he should be sent to learn the hosiery trade; and at the age of fourteen, accord ingly, he began to work as a stocking-weaver. To a heart like his, full of the love of literature, and all whose young visions were already those of a student, this destination was a very cheerless one. Yet he hardly dared to complain, for he knew that his family could scarcely afford to educate him to any higher employment. His mother, however, moved by his evident wretchedness, contrived, after he had been about a year at the loom, to prevail upon his father to allow him to be placed in the office of Messrs. Coldham & Enfield, attorneys in Nottingham, who agreed to take him without a premium, on condition of his serving two years before being articled. He now felt himself in something like his proper sphere, and his whole mind assumed new alacrity. Although nearly the whole day was necessarily given to the study of his profession, for he attended in the office, as he informs us himself in one of his letters, from eight in the morning till eight at night, he still found time to apply himself to the Greek and Latin languages; in the latter of which, with very little assistance, he enabled himself, in ten months, to read Horace with tolerable ease. This progress, however, was obtained at the cost of almost incessant application. He read during his walks and at his meals; and not a moment, indeed, of his leisure was given to anything except the improvement of his mind. In this manner it was surprising how much he accomplished. The papers he left behind him showed, Mr. Southey tells us, that he had applied himself to his legal studies with extraordinary industry. Besides the knowledge which he acquired of Greek and Latin, he also made considerable progress at this time in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Chemistry, electricity, astronomy, all shared largely in his attention. While pursuing these severer studies, he contrived to accomplish himself to a considerable extent in drawing and music; and he found an occasional amusement in practical mechanics, in which he showed much ingenuity and neatness of hand. Another accomplishment which he wished to acquire was the art of extempore speaking; and with this view he got himself elected a member of a debating society which then existed at Nottingham. Here he very soon distanced all his competitors. But this was not the only mode in which he had already begun to seek distinction. So early as the first year after his emancipation from the stockingloom, he had sent a translation from Horace to a periodical work then existing, called the Monthly Preceptor, the proprietors of which were in the habit of offering prizes for the best contributions on subjects which they proposed; and a silver medal had been awarded to him for his performance. This honour seems to have kindled his literary ambition to greater fervour than ever. He began to sigh for the advantages of a university education. After having thus frequently tried his powers in the Preceptor, he became a correspondent to another magazine called the Monthly Mirror. Some of the essays which he sent to this publication were of distinguished merit, and attracted considerable notice. Among other persons whose attention they excited was Mr. Capel Lofft, whose patronage of Bloomfield we recorded a few pages back; and the encouragement of this gentleman, whose exertions had recently been so fortunate in the case of another poet, determined Henry to commit a volume of his verses to the press. This was about the close of the year 1802. so stung the sensibility of the young poet, that he sent a re monstrance to the editors, which produced from them in their next number an expression of their regret that Mr. White should have been so much hurt by the severity of their criticism; but no acknowledgment was made of the poetical merit of the publication they had condemned. This treatment distressed Henry exceedingly. In one of his letters he says: "This Review goes before me wherever I turn my steps; it haunts me incessantly; and I am persuaded it is an instrument in the hands of Satan to drive me to distraction. I must leave Nottingham.' Fortunately, however, the poems had fallen into the hands of Mr. Southey, who, bringing to their perusal both a better judgment and a kinder heart than the writer in the Monthly Review, considered them to discover strong marks of genius.' On afterwards seeing the Review, this gentleman's indignation was so strongly excited by what he deemed its cruelty and injustice, that he immediately wrote to Henry a letter of encouragement and advice, with an offer to do any thing in his power to forward his views. This generous and seasonable interference contri The volume made its appearance in the end of 1803 or beginning of 1804. It was published by subscription, and dedicated by permission to the Duchess of Devonshire. What pecuniary return it brought the author is not stated; but the sale probably did not do a great deal more than defray the expenses of the publication. Al-buted greatly to heal the poet's though favourably noticed in wounded feelings; and enabled several of the periodical works him in a short time to forget of the day, it was made the the sneers of his anonymous subject of a very harsh article critic. in the Monthly Review. This No prospect, however, had |