"Farewell, dear friend!--that smile, that harmless mirth, No more shall gladden our domestic hearth; That rising tear, with pain forbid to flow-- Better than words--no more assuage our woe. That hand outstretch'd from small but well-earned store Yield succour to the destitute no more. Yet art thou not all lost: through many an age, With sterling sense and humour, shall thy page Win many an English bosom, pleased to see That old and happier vein revived in thee. This for our earth; and if with friends we share Our joys in heaven, we hope to meet thee there." Lamb survived his earliest friend and school-fellow, Coleridge, only a few months. One morning he showed to a friend the mourning ring which the author of _Christabelle_ had left him. "Poor fellow!" exclaimed Lamb, "I have never ceased to think of him from the day I first heard of his death." Lamb died in _five days after_--December 27, 1834, in his fifty-ninth year. * * * * * "TOM CRINGLE'S LOG." The author of this very successful work, (originally published in _Blackwood's Magazine_,) was a Mr. Mick Scott, born in Edinburgh in 1789, and educated at the High School. Several years of his life were spent in the West Indies. He ultimately married, returned to his native country, and there embarked in commercial speculations, in the leisure between which he wrote the _Log_. Notwithstanding its popularity in Europe and America, the author preserved his incognito to the last. He survived his publisher for some years, and it was not till Mr. Scott's death that the sons of Mr. Blackwood were aware of his name. * * * * * CHANCES FOR THE DRAMA. The royal patent, by which the performance of the regular drama was restricted to certain theatres, does not appear to have fostered this class of writing. Dr. Johnson forced Goldsmith's _She Stoops to Conquer_ into the theatre. Tobin died regretting that he could not succeed in hearing the _Honeymoon_ performed. Lillo produced _George Barnwell_ (an admirably written play) at an irregular theatre, after it had been rejected by the holders of the patents. _Douglas_ was cast on Home's hands. Fielding was introduced as a dramatist at an unlicensed house; and one of Mrs. Inchbald's popular comedies had lain two years neglected, when, by a trifling accident, she was able to obtain the manager's _approval_. * * * * * FULLER'S MEMORY.