a poet as the Abbé Grégoire contended, she was certainly a remarkable phenomenon, and her name is entitled to a place in the history of her race, of her sex, and of our literature. She was purchased by the wife of Mr. John Wheatley, a respectable merchant of Boston, who was anxious to superintend the education of a domestic to attend upon her person in the approaching period of old age. The amiable woman on visiting the market was attracted by the modest demeanor of a little child, in a sort of "fillibeg," who had just arrived, and taking her home, confided her instruction in part to a daughter, who, pleased with her good behavior and good abilities, determined to teach her to read and write. The readiness with which she acquired knowledge. surprised as much as it pleased her mistress, and it is probable that but few of the white children of Boston were brought up under circumstances better calculated for the full development of their natural abilities. Her ambition was stimulated; she became acquainted with grammar, history, ancient and modern geography, and astronomy. She studied Latin so as to read Horace with such ease and enjoyment that her French biographer supposes the great Roman had considerable influence upon her literary tastes and the choice of her subjects of composition. A general interest was felt in the sooty prodigy; the best libraries were open to her; and she had opportunities for conversation with the most accomplished and distinguished persons in the city. She appears to have had but an indifferent physical constitution; and when a son of Mr. Wheatley visited England in 1772, it was decided, by the advice of the family physician, that Phillis should accompany him for the benefit of the sea-voyage. In London she was treated with great consideration; was introduced to many of the nobility and gentry, and would have been received at Court but for the absence of the royal family from the metropolis. Her poems were published under the patronage of the Countess of Huntingdon, with a letter from her master, and an attestation of their genuineness, signed by the Governor, Lieutenant governor, and many of the most distinguished citizens of Boston. In 1774-the year after the return of Phillis to Boston-her mistress died; she soon lost her master and her younger mistress, his daughter; and the son having. married and settled in England, she was left without a protector or a home. The events which immediately preceded the Revolution now engrossed the attention of those acquaintances who in more peaceful and more prosperous times would have been her friends; and though she took an apartment, and attempted in some way to support herself, she saw with fears the approach of poverty, and at last, in despair, resorted to marriage as the only alternative of destitution. Grégoire, who derived his information from M. Giraud, the French consul at Boston, states that her husband, in the superiority of his understanding to that of other negroes, was also a kind of phenomenon ; that he "became a lawyer, under the name of Doctor Peters, and plead before the tribunals the cause of the blacks;" and that "the reputation he enjoyed procured him a fortune." But a later biographer of Phillis declares that Peters "kept a grocery in Court Street, and was a man of handsome person and manners, wearing a wig, carrying a cane, and quite acting the gentleman; " that he proved utterly unworthy of the distinguished woman who honored him with her alliance; that he was unsuccessful in business, failing soon after their marriage, and "was too proud and too indolent to apply himself to any occupation below his fancied dignity. Whether Peters practised physic and law or not, it appears pretty certain that he did not make a fortune, and that the match was a very unhappy one, though we think the author last quoted-who is one of the family -shows an undue partiality for his maternal ancestor. Peters, in his adversity, was not very unreasonable in demanding that his wife should attend to domestic affairs-that she should cook his breakfast and darn his stockings; but she too had certain notions of "dignity," and regarded as beneath her such unpoetical occupations. During the war they lived at Wilmington, in the interior of Massachusetts, and in this period Phillis became the mother of three children. After the peace they returned to Boston and continued to live there, most of the time in wretched poverty, till the death of Phillis on December 5, 1794. The intellectual character of Phillis Wheatley Peters has been much discussed, but chiefly by partisans. On the one hand, Mr. Jefferson declares that "the pieces published under her name are below the dignity of criticism," and that "the heroes of the Dunciad are to her as Hercules to the author of that poem;" and on the other hand, the Abbé Grégoire, Mr. Clarkson, and many more, see in her works the signs of a genuine poetical inspiration. They seem to me to be quite equal to much of the contemporary verse that is admitted to be poetry by Phillis's severest judges. Though her odes, elegies, and other compositions are but harmonious commonplaces, it would be difficult to find in the productions of American women, for the hundred and fifty years that had elapsed since the death of Mrs. Bradstreet, anything superior in sentiment, fancy, or diction.-Female Poets of America. GROSSI, TOMMASO, an Italian novelist and poet, born at Bellano, on the Lake of Como, January 20, 1791; died at Milan, December 10, 1853. After studying law at the University of Pavia, he took up his residence at Milan, where he early began to write stories in verse which became very popular. His "great poem," as the Italians style it, The Lombards in the First Crusade, in fifteen cantos, was pronounced to be the finest poem which Italy had produced since Tasso. His historical novel, Marco Visconti, published in 1835, established his literary reputation. After writing this he married, and devoted himself successfully to the practice of law. Scattered through Marco Visconti are several exquisite lyrics. Other works which met with success are Ildegonda (1820) and G. Maria Visconti, a tragedy. A writer in the Nouvelle Biographie Générale says of Grossi: "He is full of grace and elegance, and these qualities do not exclude force, passion, and elevation." THE FAIR PRISONER TO THE SWALLOWS. Pilgrim swallow! pilgrim swallow! Singing, as the mornings follow, What wouldst thou tell me in thy lay? All forgotten, com'st thou hither Yet a lighter woe thou weepest: Pilgrim swallow, in thy lay. Could I too, that am forbidden By this low and narrow cell, Whence the sun's fair light is hidden, Whence thou scarce can'st hear me tell Sorrows that I pipe alway, While thou pip'st thy plaintive lay. Ah! September quickly coming Still with every hopeless morrow, Thy dear song shall reach mine ears- Pilgrim swallow, in thy lay. Thou, when thou and Spring together Translation of W. D. HOWELLs. |