'Twas then the Man of many Words would
But, in his trial, had them all to seek: [speak-
To find a friend he look'd the circle round,
But joy or scorn in every feature found;

He sipp'd his wine, but in those times of dread
Wine only adds confusion to the head;

In doubt he reason'd with himself" And how
Harangue at night, if I be silent now?"

From pride and praise received, he sought to draw
Courage to speak, but still remain'd the awe;
One moment rose he with a forced disdain,
And then, abash'd, sunk sadly down again;
While in our hero's glance he seem'd to read,
"Slave and insurgent! what hast thou to plead ?"-

By desperation urged, he now began: "I seek no favour -I- the rights of man! "Claim; and I-nay !—but give me leave-and I "Insist —a man—that is—and in reply,

"I speak."— Alas! each new attempt was vain:
Confused he stood, he sate, he rose again;
At length he growl'd defiance, sought the door,
Cursed the whole synod, and was seen no more.

"Laud we," said Justice Bolt, "the Powers above; "Thus could our speech the sturdiest foe remove." Exulting now he gain'd new strength of fame, And lost all feelings of defeat and shame.

"He dared not strive, you witness'd-dared not lift

"His voice, nor drive at his accursed drift:

"So all shall tremble, wretches who oppose
"Our Church or State-thus be it to our foes."

He spoke, and, seated with his former air, Look'd his full self, and fill'd his ample chair; Took one full bumper to each favourite cause, And dwelt all night on politics and laws,

With high applauding voice, that gain'd him high applause. (1)

(1) [This tale is not judiciously placed at the portal to tempt hesitating readers to go forward. The fault, however, is entirely in the subject, which commands no strong or general interest; for it is perfectly well conceived and executed. The object of it is to show, that a man's fluency and force and intrepidity of speech depend very much upon his confidence of the approbation of his auditors; and, accordingly, it exhibits the orthodox, loyal, authoritative Justice Bolt struck quite dumb in an assembly of Jacobins into which he happens to stray; and the Jacobin orator, in like manner, reduced to stammering and imbecility, when detected at a dinner of parsons. The description of Justice Bolt is admirable, and may stand for a portrait of more than one provincial dictator. - JEFFREY.]

TALE II.

THE PARTING HOUR.

I did not take my leave of him, but had
Most pretty things to say: ere I could tell him
How I would think of him, at certain hours,
Such thoughts and such; - or ere I could
Give him that parting kiss, which I had set

Betwixt two charming words-comes in my father.-Cymbeline.

Grief hath changed me since you saw me last,

And careful hours with Time's deformed hand

Have written strange defeatures o'er my face. - Comedy of Errors.

Oh! if thou be the same Egean, speak,

And speak unto the same Emilia. Comedy of Errors.

I ran it through, ev'n from my boyish days
To the very moment that she bad me tell it,
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field;
Of being taken by the insolent foe,
And sold to slavery. -Othello.

An old man, broken with the storms of fate,

Is come to lay his weary bones among you;
Give him a little earth for charity. Henry VIII.

TALE II.

THE PARTING HOUR. (1)

MINUTELY trace man's life; year after year,
Through all his days let all his deeds appear,
And then, though some may in that life be strange,
Yet there appears no vast nor sudden change:
The links that bind those various deeds are seen,
And no mysterious void is left between.

But let these binding links be all destroy'd,
All that through years he suffer'd or enjoy'd:

(1) [Mr. Crabbe's fourth brother, William, taking to a seafaring life, was made prisoner by the Spaniards: he was carried to Mexico, where he became a silversmith, married, and prospered, until his increasing riches attracted a charge of Protestantism; the consequence of which was much persecution. He at last was obliged to abandon Mexico, his property, and his family; and was discovered, in the year 1803, by an Aldborough sailor, on the coast of Honduras, where again he seems to have found some success in business. This sailor was the only person he had seen for many a year who could tell him any thing of Aldborough and his family; and great was his perplexity when he was informed that his eldest brother, George, was a clergyman. "This cannot be our George," said the wanderer"he was a doctor!" This was the first, and it was also the last, tidings that ever reached Mr. Crabbe of his brother William; and, upon the Aldborough sailor's story of his casual interview, it is obvious that he built this tale. See antè, Vol. I. p. 4.]