Bloomfield was the means of introducing "The Farmer's Boy" to the favourable notice of the public. Kirke White, encouraged by the advice of Mr. Lofft and other literary friends, was induced to prepare a volume of his poems for the press, which appeared in 1803. Southey gives some interesting details of the young poet's efforts to obtain a patron for his work, and of the reception it met with from the critical journals then existing. A writer in "The Monthly Review," whose name never transpired, criticised it with unsparing severity; and such was the effect of the unfriendly judgment passed upon its merits, that, as he afterwards declared, the "review went before him wherever he turned his steps, that it haunted him incessantly, and that he was persuaded it was an instrument in the hands of Satan to drive him to destruction." Want of space prevents us from inserting the feeling letter written by Henry to his reviewer, and the reply which it elicited. Fortunately, however, for his fame, the volume fell into the hands of Southey, who, convinced that gross injustice had been done to a young man of great genius, wrote to him in terms of encouragement, and offered his advice and assistance. The poet's reply to his considerate and generous friend does honour to his head and heart. "It is not unworthy of remark," says his biographer, "that this very review, which was designed to crush the hopes of Henry, and suppress his struggling genius, has been, in its consequences, the main occasion of bringing his 'Remains' to light, and obtaining for him that fame which assuredly will be his portion.

The timely assistance rendered by Southey led to other friends coming forward, and aiding the young poet in accomplishing an object he had for some time cherished, which was to relinquish his profession of the law, and to enter one of the Universities. From this period, the few remaining events of his melancholy story can be briefly told. They are accurately narrated by Chambers in his "Cyclopedia of Literature." For the sake of brevity we transcribe as follows:-"Henry's pinions, for some time," says the writer, "inclined to

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deism, without any taint of immorality; but a fellowstudent put into his hands Scott's 'Force of Truth,' and he soon became a decided convert to the spirit and doctrines of Christianity. He resolved upon devoting his life to the promulgation of them, and the Rev. Mr. Simeon, Cambridge, procured for him a sizarship at St. John's college. This benevolent clergyman further promised, with the aid of a friend, to supply him with £30 annually, and his own family were to furnish the remainder necessary for him to go through college. Poetry was now abandoned for severer studies. He competed for one of the University scholarships, and at the end of the term, was pronounced the first man of his year. 'Twice he distinguished himself in the following year, being again pronounced first at the great college examination, and also one of the three best theme writers, between whom the examiners could not decide. The college offered him, at their expense, a private tutor in mathematics during the long vacation; and Mr. Catton (his tutor), by procuring for him exhibitions to the amount of £66 per annum, enabled him to give up the pecuniary assistance which he had received from Mr. Simeon and other friends.'* This distinction was purchased at the sacrifice of health and life. Were I,' he said, 'to paint Fame crowning an under-graduate after the senate-house examination, I would represent him as concealing a death's head under the mask of beauty.' He went to London to recruit his shattered nerves and spirits; but on his return to college, he was so completely ill that no power of medicine could save him. He died on the 19th of October, 1806. A tablet to Henry's memory, with a medallion by Chantrey, was placed in All Saints' church, Cambridge, by a young American gentleman, Mr. Francis Boott of Boston, and bearing the following inscriptionso expressive of the tenderness and regret universally felt towards the poet-by Professor Smyth :

"Warm with fond hope and learning's sacred flame,
To Granta's bowers the youthful poet came;

Southey's Memoir prefixed to Remains of Henry Kirke White.

Unconquered powers the immortal mind displayed,
But worn with anxious thought, the frame decayed.
Pale o'er his lamp, and in his cell retired,

The martyr student faded and expired.
Oh! genius, taste, and piety sincere,

Too early lost 'midst studies too severe !
Foremost to mourn was generous Southey seen,
He told the tale, and showed what White had been;
Nor told in vain. Far o'er the Atlantic wave

A wanderer came and sought the poet's grave:
On yon low stone he saw his lonely name,

And raised this fond memorial to his fame.""

It is pleasing to turn from the melancholy history of Kirke White, the leading facts of which we have given, to the contemplation of his fervent piety, his pure moral character, his honourable principles, and his sweet disposition. These have been delineated, by his amiable biographer, in language which it would be impossible to strengthen or improve. We have not space for more than a short extract from Southey's prefatory memoir:-"It is not possible," he remarks, 66 to conceive a human being more amiable in all the relations of life. He was the confidential friend and adviser of every member of his family; this he instinctively became; and the thorough good sense of his advice is not less remarkable than the affection with which it is always communicated. To his mother he is as earnest in beseeching her to be careful of her health, as he is in labouring to convince her that his own complaints were abating; his letters to her are always of hopes, of consolation, and of love. To Neville he writes with the most brotherly intimacy, still, however, in that occasional tone of advice which it was his nature to assume, not from any arrogance of superiority, but from earnestness of pure affection. To his younger brother he addresses himself like the tenderest and wisest parent; and to two sisters, then too young for any other communication, he writes to direct their studies, to inquire into their progress, to encourage and to improve them. Such letters as these are not for the public; but they to whom they are addressed will lay them to their hearts like relics. and will find in them a saving virtue."

Of this author's literary productions it cannot be denied, that their popularity has derived additional strength from the interesting circumstances of his life, the excellence of his private character, the abrupt termination of his earthly career, and the pleasing account given of him by a writer so eminently qualified to do justice to his merits. Still, he has left abundant proofs of poetical talent; and, had his life been spared, there can be no doubt that he would have occupied an exalted rank among the poets of his country. His intellectual endowments, though above the common order, were surpassed by a nobleness of nature that spurned every thing low, mean, and vicious. He was one amongst many other "martyr students" who have fallen victims, in the "morn and liquid dew of youth," to excessive mental application. In this respect his premature death presents a salutary warning. His chief praise is, as Chambers has justly observed, that "he afforded one of the finest examples on record of youthful talent and perseverance devoted to the noblest objects." The following appropriate lines from the pen of Byron will always be remembered in connexion with the name of Henry Kirke White :

No marble marks thy couch of lowly sleep,
But living statues there are seen to weep;
Affection's semblance bends not o'er thy tomb,
Affliction's self deplores thy youthful doom.

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Dublin: Printed by ALEX. THOM and SONS, 87, Abbey-street, For Her Majesty's Stationery Office.