merit and virtue, have now and then seemed to flit and glide before it. But the visions were deceitful. Ere they were distinctly seen, the phantoms vanished. Or, if such beings do exist, it has experienced the peculiar hardship of never having met with any, in whom both the purpose and the power were fully united. Therefore, with hands wearied with labour, eyes dim with watchfulness, veins but half nourished, and a mind at length subdued by intense study, and a reiteration of unaccomplished hopes, it was driven by irresistible impulse to end at once such a complication of evils. The knowledge was imposed upon it that, amid all these calamities, it had one consolation—Its miseries were not eternal—That itself had the power to end them. This power it has employed, because it found itself incapable of supporting any longer the wretchedness of its own situation, and the blindness and injustice of mankind: and as, while it lived, it lived scorned and neglected, so it now commits itself to the waves; in expectation, after it is dead, of being mangled, belied, and insulted.’ * * * * * The song of Gaffar-Gray is written in a less sombrous style, with a mixture of banter and irony. But it is distinguished by the same fulness of feeling, and the same simple, forcible, and perfect expression of it. There is nothing wanting, and nothing superfluous. The author has produced exactly the impression he intended. ‘Ho! Why dost thou shiver and shake, Gaffar-Gray! And why doth thy nose look so blue? “’Tis the weather that’s cold, ’Tis I’m grown very old, And my doublet is not very new, Well-a-day!” Then line thy worn doublet with ale, Gaffar-Gray; And warm thy old heart with a glass. “Nay, but credit I’ve none; And my money’s all gone; Then say how may that come to pass? Well-a-day!” Hie away to the house on the brow, Gaffar-Gray; And knock at the jolly priest’s door. “The priest often preaches Against worldly riches; But ne’er gives a mite to the poor, Well-a-day!” The lawyer lives under the hill, Gaffar-Gray; Warmly fenc’d both in back and in front. “He will fasten his locks, And will threaten the stocks, Should he ever more find me in want, Well-a-day!” The ‘Squire has fat beeves and brown ale, Gaffar-Gray; And the season will welcome you there. “His fat beeves and his beer, And his merry new year Are all for the flush and the fair, Well-a-day!”