girl and I sometimes look at each other with tion show the spirit of a man who has all astonishment in our splendid room here, and she the Indian appointments at his feet, and is says she is quite sure it must be all a dream. rather puzzled as to the office which shall And who shall say that the lady was wrong? enjoy the honor of selection. "It must be Do men never "dream" with eyes wide open something very tempting indeed," he loftily and in the glaring sun? When Thomas writes, "which would take me so far from Moore first fell asleep on his downy pillow at all I have hitherto loved and cultivated. He Donington he did not dream more wildly and could, of course, get me something at home unmeaningly than when in that same coro- by exchange of patronage; but I cannot neted carriage he built his airy castles, imag-brook the idea of taking anything under the ining himself the proud possessor of honors present men, and, therefore, it will be either which no more belonged to him than "Lady India or nothing with me." Fortunate poet, Loudon's crimson travelling cloak" was the who could thus look down upon a whole lawful goods of Bessy. administration and carve his honors for himOn the 11th of May, 1812, Mr. Perceval, self! Tom is calmly waiting "to be sent the prime minister, was assassinated in the for" when a letter reaches him. The postlobby of the House of Commons. Shortly mark is London, and the cover has the wellbefore this event, Tom Moore, being on a known signature of "Moira" in the corner. visit to Lord Moira, was taken aside by that Ah, faithful found among the faithless! It nobleman and politely asked about the state is the order, no doubt, to prepare. "Love, of his pecuniary affairs. Tom replied that literature and liberty" must, alas! be given he had every prospect of being comforta- up at the bidding of our country, and the ble;" whereupon his lordship added, "I tranquillity of Kegworth exchanged for the merely inquired with respect to any present blazing heat of Calcutta. It is "India or exigence, as I have no doubt there will soon nothing." Tom opens the letter and finds -be a change of politics which will set us all on our legs." It was an injudicious speech to a son of the Muses, who had just made up his mind to be " as happy as love, literature and liberty" could make him in a cottage; but Tom confesses it "was very pleasant, as being a renewal of his pledge to me, though I fear the change he alludes to is further off than he thinks." Moore is mistaken. As far as Lord Moira is concerned there is "change," and that speedily. It is true, that upon the death of Perceval, the Regent contrived, through the intractability of the Whigs, to retain the old Tory ministers; but it is also true that Lord Moira, before the year was out, agreed to take office under his political opponents, and to go to India as Governor-General. The news reached Tom in his retirement at Kegworth, and "the quiet pursuit of literature" was again temporarily forsaken for that "Will-o'-the-wisp" which had already made its victim dance so much and to so little purpose.

"nothing." Not a single word does it convey about Moore or his expectations; but an elaborate explanation is given of the reasons why Lord Moira himself accepted his appointment from the existing administration. "I cannot but think it very singular," writes the innocent poet, "that after the renewed pledges and promises he made me so late at the last time he was here, he should not give the remotest hint of either an intention, or even a wish, to do anything for me. I shall be exceedingly mortified indeed," he gravely adds, falling down whole miles from his grand elevation, "if he should go away without giving me an opportunity of at least refusing something. I should like to have at least this gratification. However, he will be here the beginning of this week, and I must suspend all further opinion till he comes."

Next week arrives, and with it Lord Moira. Tom announces the fact to his mother, telling her that he "shall soon be put out of suspense," though he has "made up his mind pretty well to expecting very little. Indeed, when I say I expect very little, I mean that I expect nothing." It is clear Moore cannot be his lordship's private secretary, for that berth has been already given to Captain Thomson, an old American comrade. Well, we shall see what an interview will do. But an interview is not so easy. For a moment Tom

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catches sight of Lord Moria shooting in the as himself, had less ability to overcome fields, and Lord Moira catches sight of him. temptation, and exemplified in his history the "You see a schoolboy taking his holiday," last effects of a system the hollowness of which said his lordship, affectingly, and then pro- Moore had the grace to detect before it was ceeds to pop at the birds. From this moment, too late for the discovery to be of use. The to use the poet's own expression, the Gov-early career of Theodore Hook has a marvellous ernor-General " fights shy" of his client; resemblance to that of the more fortunate, but "his manner is even worse than his defi- scarcely more richly endowed, poet of the ciences of matter." He is always busy, and sister isle. Theodore Hook was born with never "i' the vein.” But Tom grows sick brilliant talents, and “lived," as one of his of suspense and determines to bring his busi-biographers has said of him, "from the ness to a crisis. "At last" he gets an inter- cradle in a musical atmosphere." He, too, view. His lordship began by telling his friend, had an exquisite ear, could play untaught whom he had solemnly promised to set on upon the piano; and, as a child, astonished his legs," that he had not been "oblivious and delighted every eager listener. Like of him." "Oblivious of me!" shrieks Moore, Tom Moore, he was scarcely breeched before in a letter to one of his friends; "after this he became "a show child," singing exquisdevil of a word what heart or soul was to be itely to his own accompaniment ballads of expected from him!" His lordship continued his own writing-music of his own compos He was sorry to say that all the Indian pat-ing. What Moore's mother did for her favored ronage he was allowed to exercise here had child when she discovered the treasure which been exhausted; but if on reaching India he Providence had enshrined within him, we should find anything worth Moore's accept- have already seen. Hook had the misfortune ance, he would let him know. In the to lose his mother while he was yet a schoolmean time he would try to get something from boy at Harrow, and his father, finding himself the government at home, who were bound to the possessor of a veritable prodigy, deterhelp his friends during his absence; and if mined at once to take him home and make anything else Luckless poet! Tom the most of his property. All the difference saw desertion in every word, in every look, in the fates of these two men, who began the in every tone. He went home to his little journey of life and travelled some distance on cot at Kegworth, kicked his Will-o'-the-wisp one and the same track, may possibly be once for all out of the house, no doubt kissed attributed to the fact that the motherless boy his wife and child, and, like a brave little fel- was sent alone into the world with his imlow, wrote a parting word to his Excellency passioned soul to guide him as best it might, the Governor-General. He begged his lord- while Moore, well fortified at starting by the ship not to trouble the ministry on his ac- instruction maternal anxiety had procured count; not to look out for "anything good him, labored beneath the influence of the in India; not to distress himself any further mother's eye almost to the end. with the worldly interests of Thomas Moore; that it was too late in the day for the said Thomas "to go on expecting;" and that he must forthwith think of working out his own independence by his own industry. That letter Thomas despatched, and from that moment did his duty, as we all know, in that station of life to which it had pleased God to call him. We do not learn that Lord Moira replied to this farewell epistle; but it is right to this great man to record that he did not sail for India before he had handsomely despatched to the little family at Kegworth a It is singular how exactly the early histories large basket of hares, venison, and peafowl." of these two youths correspond. The marA great lesson, that needs to be enforced, is chionesses get hold of Hook precisely as to be gathered from the memorials that lie they take possession of Moore. He also is before us, or else assuredly we should not invited to the supper parties of the great, in have dwelt so long upon the early career of a order to sing for their amusement; and he, man who has but reached his meridian in the too, is introduced to the Prince Regent, who, two volumes furnished to the world by his just as he had done to Moore, places his hand noble biographer. Before we attempt to on the brilliant improvisatore's shoulder, telldilate upon that lesson we call the reader's ing him he is delighted to make his acquaintattention for a moment to another and a com-ance, and that he hopes to see and hear him panion picture. again, and frequently. On one occasion we Thomas Moore was the contemporary of a are told that the prince said with feeling, man who, subjected to the same solicitations" Something must be done for Hook!" and

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As Hook grew up his genius expanded. Removed from school at his mother's death, and being both comely and precocious, he was flattered by musicians and players, and before he was sixteen he was a successful and distinguished author. One faculty he had to perfection. His talents as an improvisatore were miraculous. Mr. Lockhart, in his brief but admirable and most just biography of Hook, affirms that in this particular he stands alone in his own country, and Coleridge declared he was as true a genius as Dante.

Tom Moore as they were able to extract, but we do blame him for being weak enough to suppose that the fine folks were fervently attached to him when they were only in love with his singing. It was a fair game on either side, but, being played out, Tom had certainly no more claim upon the hearts of the fine folks than they had upon the affections of Tom. What would he have said had they presented their bill of costs for all the feasts? Would he have paid it? If not, with what face can he demand extra payment for performances for which he has already given a discharge in full? Let poets hanker after great people if they will; but let them never complain if a lifelong pursuit of a most unworthy object meets with the ignoble reward it has earned, and with not a sixpence more. Racine was sought after by the great, who would not admit Corneille to their gilded saloons; but Racine was shrewd enough to pay the fine people in their own pinchbeck coin, and Corneille surely gained more than he lost by the lofty neglect when the theatre rose as a man to greet his appearance upon the scene of his legitimate triumphs.

Is this a state of things creditable to either in order to fix his own price upon his precious party, honorable to the patron, reputable to labors. We have read that for his Melodies the client? Steele has declared that "the alone Power, the publisher, guaranteed him man who takes up another's time in his ser- 5007. a-year; we know that for Lalla Rookh vice, though he has no prospect of rewarding he received 3,000 guineas, that for the Loves his merit towards him, is as unjust in his of the Angels he received a proportionately dealings as he who takes goods of a trades- large sum, and that for all his other works man without the intention or ability to pay he was equally well paid. What business for them." We are no apologists for the he to play the suitor at the festive boards of fine people who could see the children of the grand people, who valued him solely for the "friend" who had once ministered to their pleasure he could give them, when he had ephemeral happiness pining for help, and already secured the worship of the whole turn aside as though they saw them not; but country and the homage of nations? What we are bound to admit, though even against elevation, dignity, or ease could any post Steele, that the case of Moore and Hook was afford him, beyond that which he already enfairly stated when the latter frankly allowed joyed by the united suffrages of his countrythat he had received the value of his songs in men? We do not blame the coronetted enfricandeaux, and a receipt for his music in tertainers for getting as much delight out of Silleri and Laffitte. When Moore found himself alone with his marchionesses and dukes when he looked up and down the sumptuous table, and discovered in all the brilliant company no poet but the charming author of the Irish Melodies, and no vintner's son but Thomas Moore, did it never occur to him to inquire how it came to pass that he constituted the one enviable exception? What had he done for his haughty associates that they should acknowledge him as an equal, and treat him as a friend? Men of humble origin, though endowed with rare intellectual power, have too frequently an inordinate regard for worldly splendor. Aristocrats have occasionally an equal and more commendable taste for the society of fine talkers, or rare singers, as the case may be. The humble man sells his brains for the splendor, the aristocrat lends the splendor for the brains, and there is an end to the transaction. If the man of genius looks for more than his hire, he is exorbitant in his demands, and should, at all events, have made a better bargain at starting. When Moore flourished, the time had gone by forever when it was necessary for an author to look to a patron for the means of advancement; a miserable expedient at When Tom had parted company forever with the best, since it has been admitted that his will-o'-the-wisp, which had done him no fewer cripples have come out of the wars good since he first made its acquaintance, it than out of such a service. Mr. Macaulay would appear that he began to enter society recalls to mind with melancholy regret the with a much more practical and useful object days when Horace was forced to invoke Au- than that of merely hobnobbing with his gustus in the most enthusiastic language of re- superiors. In order to make his songs populigious veneration-when Statius was doomed lar, and to render them a source of profit to to flatter a tyrant for a morsel of bread-when the writer, it was necessary that they should Tasso extolled the heroic virtues of a wretched be sung in the assemblies of the "first creature who locked him up in a madhouse; circles." Generally speaking, the author or but these were times when readers were publisher of a ballad will make friends with scarce when patronage was essential to save a favorite professional singer, whose perform the needy writer from starvation, and when men exercised intellectual independence at the risk of their lives. Hook and Moore lived at a happier epoch, and never once appealed to the people in vain. The latter had only to devote himself exclusively to his art

ances are sufficient to bring a composition into vogue. Now, Pasta or Catalani could not do for Moore in this respect half as much as Moore could do for himself; and, accordingly, Tom, in a very business-like and commendable spirit, took his wares in his own

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It was at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, that Lalla Rookh was written. The poem was the result of two or three winters' study; and when it appeared, in 1817, the reputation of Moore was made forever. Three thousand guineas was the price paid for the work, and of this sum Moore drew immediately one thousand for the discharge of his debts, leaving the remaining two thousand in the hands of the publishers, who were requested by the poet to pay the interest (1007. per annum) over to his father. Let us repeat, whatever were the weaknesses of Moore, his filial conduct was without a flaw, and his remembrance of home claims not darkened by one cloud of selfishness throughout his life.

person to Grosvenor-square, just as Messrs. | poured all the treasures of the East into the Nicol might take their coats and pantaloons lap of Thomas Moore, and, what is more, on their bodies to the same place, if they Thomas would not have been too proud to were only lucky enough to gain admittance. accept them. Tom goes over to Derby to "It was only on my representing to Bessy," buy a sofa, and, of course, pays the generous writes Moore to Mr. Power in 1813, that Strutt a passing visit. A sofa does not appear my songs would all remain a dead letter with to have been handy at the time, but "Mr. you if I did not go up in the gay time of the Strutt, who never sees me without giving year, and give them life by singing them me something," insisted upon making Tom about, that she agreed to my leaving her."a present of a very snug and handsome This is quite my object. I shall make it a easy-chair for his study," which Tom did not whole month of company and exhibition, refuse. In the warmth of acceptance, Moore which will do more service to the sale of pronounces the Strutts "most excellent and the songs than a whole year's advertising." friendly people." We believe he does them Who shall complain that the poet carries his justice; but we had rather that Tom had got own board on his back instead of hiring a his candlesticks, rings, and easy-chairs at the whole troop of advertising vans? Economy proper shops, and in the regular way of is a virtue, let it be of money or of time. business, nevertheless. But shall we confess it?-there reveals itself in the correspondence something too much of deliberate bargaining with society, at all times, to please the unsophisticated reader, who would fain discover in the poet of his adoration some faint resemblance to the man fashioned by his own generous imagination. In 1813 Moore removes to the neighborhood of Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, where he hires a cottage, "secluded among the fields just the sort of thing he likes. He is not there long before he makes the acquaintance of a wealthy Derby family, also just the sort of thing he likes ;" and the seclusion of the fields is relieved occasionally by the bustle and excitement of a warm and well-provided mansion. Tom, in fact, hardly When the praises of Lalla Rookh were at smells his fields before he is corresponding their height, Moore and his Bessy moved with his friends in his old style about his southward in search of another home, the "carriages," his "elegancies,' ," and his damp, smokiness, and smallness of the Derbygood company.' He gives up Lord Moira shire cot proving no longer tolerable. It was to patronize a millionaire. "We have just a proud journey for Moore, and his heart beat been on a visit," runs a letter dated October stoutly, we may be sure, as he knocked at all 23, 1813, "to Mr. Joseph Strutt's, who sent the big houses with his good wife upon his his carriage and four for us and back again arm. He had done more for his fame than a with us. There are three brothers of them, whole army of Moiras could have achieved, and they are supposed to have a million of and had carved for hintself a niche upon which money pretty equally divided between them. all eyes will be turned years after the very They have fine families of daughters, and are name of his false patron shall have been forfond of literature, music, and all those elegan- gotten. Bessy," writes Moore to his mother cies which their riches enable them so amply to from London, "took a round with me to reindulge themselves with." Bessy came back turn calls-Lady Besborough, Asgill, Cork, full of presents-rings, fans, &c." A letter Hastings, &c. We were let in at almost all!" written a few months subsequently informs Beatified Tom! "Let in!" What condeus that the poet "likes the Strutts exceed- scension on the one hand-what silly ecstasy ingly." We have no doubt of it; for the on the other! epistle goes on to say that "they have fine A new home was speedily found in Wiltpianofortes, magnificent organs, splendid shire, close to Bowood, the residence of the houses, and most excellent white soup :" Marquis of Lansdowne. It was a small that Tom"does not think he wrote half so thatched cottage, of which Moore took posseswell" as the young Strutts at their age, and sion on the 19th of November, 1817, and in that Bessy, as before, "came away loaded which he died at the end of February, 1852. with presents of rings, fans, and bronze The vicinity of the great house was of course candlesticks." Had Mr. Strutt been Governor- a great recommendation to the poet, whose General of India, instead of Lord Moira, that hours were divided at all periods, as far as munificent gentleman would have certainly possible, between the Muses and the House of

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