Oh! 'tis a spot where man might sit and weep His childish griefs and petty cares away; Wearied Ambition might lie there and sleep, And hoary Crime in silence kneel to pray. The fountain's voice, the day-beams faintly given, Tell of that starlight land we pass in dreams to heaven. There, lovely forms in elder times were seen, And snowy kirtles waved between the trees; And light feet swept along the velvet green, While the rude anthem rose upon the breeze, When round the margin England's early daughters Worshipped the rough-hewn Saint that yet bends o'er the waters. And some bent priest, whose locks were white as snow, Would raise his trembling hands and voice to pray; All would be hushed save that old fountain's flow That rolling bore the echoes far away; Perchance a dove, amid the foliage dim, Might raise a coo, then pause to list their parting hymn. That old grey abbey lies in ruins now, The wild-flowers wave where swung its pond'rous door; Where once the altar rose, rank nettles grow, The anthem's solemn sound is heard no more; 'Tis as if Time had laid down to repose, Drowsed by the fountain's voice, which through the forest flows." He wrote and worked at his trade; his poetry won for him many admirers, amongst them Lady Blessington, Thomas Moore, Samuel Rogers, the banker-poet, and others, and he was welcomed to their houses. He remarked, "Often have I been sitting in Lady Blessington's splendid drawing-room in the morning, and talking and laughing as familiarly as in the old house at home; and on the same evening I might have been seen on Westminster Bridge, between an apple vendor and a baked-potato merchant, vending my baskets." In 1836, he wrote "A Day in the Woods," consisting of a series of sketches, stories, and poems. The reading public welcomed the work, and the critical press recognised it as the production of a man of undoubted genius. He continued to make friends, including "L. E. L.," the poetess, Campbell, Leigh Hunt, Jerrold, Disraeli and Thackeray. The merits and success of his book caused Colburn to make him a tempting offer to write a three-volume novel, and in 1838 appeared "Royston Gower." The work was so popular that the same publisher commissioned him to write two more novels, namely, in 1839, "Fair Rosamond," and in 1840, "Lady Jane Grey." He produced other novels, perhaps the best known is "Gideon Giles." These works are now to be obtained in cheap form, and have been most extensively circulated.