Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 10, No. 271, September 1, 1827 by Various
page 11 of 48 (22%)
is equal to his merit, the following extract, from a letter to a friend,
will afford a pleasing evidence. Speaking of his literary career, he
says, "it has been marked by an indulgence on the part of the public,
and the dispensers of literary fame, which I never anticipated. When I
consider that only about three years have elapsed since I avowed myself
an author, I am really surprised at the notice my trivial productions
have received, and the numerous acquaintance to which they have, by
correspondence, introduced me. Much of this, I dare say, is owing to
my quakerism; and to that, unquestionably, I was indebted for the
article in the _Edinburgh Review_, and the more recent passing notice
in the _Quarterly_. Still, as I do not believe that any _outré_ or
_adventitious_ source of attraction would have alone procured me the
attention I have found, I would hope it may partly have arisen from
their simple, unaffected appeal to those quiet, domestic, secluded
feelings, which endear the still undercurrent of existence--in short,
to my being content to make the best I could of the homely and confined
materials to which my situation has given me access, without affecting
scholarship, or aiming at romantic embellishment. There is nothing like
simple truth and nature, after all; and he who is satisfied with simply
and faithfully describing what he actually sees, feels, and, thinks, may
always hope to appeal successfully to the unsophisticated heart."[4]

We here conclude our notice of the bard of Woodbridge; and should
this brief account excite the interest of our readers to become better
acquainted with this "living author," we refer them to the whole-length
portrait painted by himself, and held up to view in every page of his
poems.

[1] _Poems_, by B. Barton, p.190, 3rd edit.

DigitalOcean Referral Badge