For that region with darkness and idols was rife,
Its traffic the blood and the sinews of life-
Where the curse of oppression had blighted the plain,
And the cry of the captive was uttered in vain.

'Is there no one,' they cried, 'to our anguish responds,
No hand from on high to unrivet our bonds?
Like beasts of the forest-like sheep of the fold-
How long shall our children be slaughtered or sold?
How long shall the spoiler pursue his career,
And our traders supply him with sabre and spear?
How long shall the veil of hypocrisy rest
On the craft or the guile of that trafficker's breast?'

How sad was that voice! But its thrilling appeal
Has struck on the ear of a stranger, whose zeal,
Long tried and unflinching, was still at his post
When the victims of slavery needed him most.
He heard, and, like Howard, he turned not away,
For high thoughts in his spirit were kindling that day;
He rushed to the spot, in the struggle to share—
For the victim was bound, and his doom was despair.

The stranger was moved, and to sever the chain
Of the captive he labored, and toiled not in vain ;
While the man-stealer's sordid accomplice stood by,
And scowled on the stranger with truculent eye;
And by features distorted by impotent rage,
Foamed, fretted, and chafed, like a wolf in his cage;
Exclaiming, Right dearly the price thou shalt pay
For the wrong thou hast done to my interests to-day.'

'Thy threats I regard not,' the stranger replied;
'My duty is done; by my act I abide :

I have labored, indeed, to unfetter the slave-
If wrong, let the record be writ on my grave.
But on that of the wretch who for lucre retains
Even man, his Redeemer once ransomed, in chains,
No record be read save the record of guilt-
Of the hearts he has broken, the blood he has spilt.'

And yet, while I gazed on that terrible scene,
And the slave-stealer frowned with a murderous mien,

While he trampled on freedom, and scoffed at the rood

For its sign was rebuke to his traffic in blood

These words were pronounced, and the stranger was cheered:
'To the genius of Freedom thy cause is endeared;
Through sunshine and tempest pursue thy career;

The billows may roar, but the haven is near!""

LETTERS FROM LADY BLESSINGTON TO THE AUTHOR OF THE

HELIOTROPE."

"April 14th, 1833.

"Lady Blessington has again to acknowledge the polite attention of the author of The Heliotrope,' and to thank him for the very acceptable present he has made her. Lady B- feels much gratified that the beautiful poem

is given to the public, for in the present degenerate days, when a taste for fine poetry is almost as rare as the genius for writing it, a few specimens like 'The Heliotrope' must do much toward leading back the mind to the true point of inspiration-nature-pure and refined, as portrayed in the admirable poem now published."

"Seamore Place, June 12th, 1833.

"The high opinion Lady Blessington entertains of the genius of the author of The Heliotrope' must plead her excuse for the request she is about to make him. Lady B- has undertaken to edit the Book of Beauty' for this year, and many of her literary friends have kindly consented to assist her by their contributions. The work is to consist of twenty-five engravings from pictures by the best artists, the engravings to be illustrated by tales in prose or by poetry. The pictures are all female portraits of great beauty, and Lady Blessington is most anxious that a poem, however short, from the elegant pen of the author of The Heliotrope' should grace the pages of her book.

"Lady B—— has many apologies to make for this liberty; but the author of The Heliotrope' must bear in mind that few who have had the gratification of perusing that admirable poem could resist the desire of endeavoring to procure a few lines from the same pen for a work in which Lady B— is much interested."

"Sunday, June 16th, 1833.

Lady Blessington feels deeply sensible, not only of the consent the author of 'The Heliotrope' has given to comply with her request, but the amiable manner in which that consent has been conveyed. Lady B can not abandon the hope of becoming personally acquainted with an author whose admirable poem has so much delighted her, and requests that, if the author of The Heliotrope' is resolved to retain his incognito, she may at least have the pleasure of seeing his friend, Dr. William Beattic, whose name brings associations most agreeable, not only of the Progress of Genius,' but its hap

piest results, as exemplified in 'The Heliotrope.' Lady Blessington sends a picture which she is most anxious should be illustrated in verse. The subject is beautiful, and therefore not unworthy the pen she wishes to consign it to."

"Seamore Place, Tuesday, Aug. 20th.

"DEAR SIR,-I inclose a proof-sheet of the beautiful poem you were so kind as to give me, that you may see if it is correctly printed. Will you be so good as to return it at your earliest convenience? I greatly fear that the lateness of my hours has more than once deprived me of the pleasure of seeing you; and, to prevent the recurrence of such a loss occurring to me again, may I entreat you to bear in mind that I receive every evening from ten o'clock until half past twelve, and that it will be most highly gratifying to me to see you at Seamore Place as frequently as you can favor me with your company. "Your sincere and obliged M. BLESSINGTON."

"Saturday morning.

"It appears that I am never to address you except to acknowledge some favor conferred. I have now to thank you for the lines sent to-day, and to express my gratitude for the admirable poem, with which I shall be proud to grace the pages of my Book of Beauty.'

"I should be wanting in candor were I not to acknowledge the high gratification your commendation of 'The Repealers' has given me. It is such praise, and from such a source, that it repays an author for being misunderstood by the common herd, among whom my book is not calculated to make much impression. M. BLESSINGTON.”

"Wednesday, July 3d, 1833.

"With such a gem in my book as the sketch you have sent me, I defy criticism, for one such contribution would redeem any work. How can I thank you sufficiently?

"I dare not believe the flattering things you say of my 'Repealers;' but pray remember it was written in five weeks-the only excuse I can give for its errors.

"I am generally at home except on Opera nights, and your presence can never fail to be most acceptable at Seamore Place whenever you have a spare evening at your disposal. M. BLESSINGTON."

"Seamore Place, 29th November, 1833.

"I feel that the partiality of the friend (for so you must permit me to consider you) has silenced the criticism of the erudite reader, and therefore I fear to accept the commendations you offer me-commendations so valuable from an author whose brilliant genius is only equaled by the chaste elegance of the language in which it is displayed.

"The truth is, it is difficult for a mind like yours to peruse any work without decking it with some portion of that grace and beauty which evidently peculiarly belongs to your imagination, like the vase which, having long contained precious odors, lends a portion of their fragrance even to water when it passes through it.

"I regret that you are compelled to live in darkness, but, with the light within,' who can so well dispense with that without? Milton described what he imagined, and gained immortality; had sight been spared him, he might have only described what he saw, and gained only temporary fame.

"Though I pray that you may never resemble him in the cause, I trust you will emulate him in the effect, which was produced on his genius by loss of vision; for I am persuaded that the more frequently you draw on the light within,' the more will all lovers of true poetry be illumined.

"I hope you will indulge me with your society whenever you are able to face the lamp, that most destructive of all economical inventions, which sears the eyes and dulls the head. M. BLESSINGTON."

"January 1st, 1834.

"The elegant lines I received this day can come from no pen save yours, so let me thank you for them. They arrived at a moment when the day had awakened a melancholy train of reflections—in which the recollections of the past year, and the fears for the future, had shed a gloom, which the fanciful and gay visions of your Muse dispelled. 1833 has peculiar claims to my gratitude for having bestowed on me the advantage and pleasure of your (will you permit me to say?) friendship, and for this I have bid adieu to it with regret.

"I am writing in a room with a circle of friends who are talking so loudly that I fear my note will be almost as unintelligible to you as my ideas are to myself; but three feelings are distinct in my mind, which are gratitude for your kindness, admiration for your genius, and genuine esteem for your many fine qualities, which no one, my dear sir, can estimate more highly than "M. BLESSINGTON."

*

"January 16th, 1835. "The bearer is Mr. Miller, the poet (and basket-maker), for whom I am anxious to procure your countenance. Who so well as you can appreciate a true poet, or who reward with kind words of encouragement one to whom Fortune has been so much less kind than Nature? M. BLESSINGTON."

"January 1st, 1836.

"One can forgive the coming new year, which reminds us of much that we wish to forget, when it brings verses like yours-verses in which a refined taste and a true genius are equally conspicuous. I put genius last; for though it is considered the gift, all other gifts above,' yet I rank it beneath that in* Miller, the basket-making bard, author of "Fair Rosamond," &c.-R. R. M.

estimable gift, a heart, that endears you to every friend who has ever had the happiness of knowing you; and I do assure you, honestly and truly, that I have never been able to decide which I most valued, the brilliant genius you possess, or the noble, warm heart that shines through all your actions and thoughts. M. BLESSINGTON."

"Gore House, March 28th, 1836.

"I last year gave you a subject which only a Muse like yours could adorn; I now send you one that might inspire a much less gifted one. It is the portrait of the Marchioness of Abercorn and her daughter, by E. Landseer, and, to my taste, is charming. The marchioness is daughter to the Duke of Bedford, and a descendant of Rachael Lady Russell, whose virtues she inherits. If I counted less on your friendship, of which I have had so many proofs, I should hesitate in demanding this new one; but I know that your Muse is ever propitious to the call of friendship.

"I hope you will soon come and see my new abode, and your cordial friend, "M. BLESSINGTON."

"Gore House, Friday, April 15th, 1836. "Will you forgive me for being so importunate? But your verses are to open my book, followed by Mr. Bulwer, and Sir William Gell's Essay. "Printers have sometimes devils in as well as about them, and are prone to perplex those who dip their fingers in ink. M. BLESSINGTON."

"Gore House, February 15th, 1837. "I am a petitioner to you on the part of Mrs. Fairlie, my niece, for three or four stanzas. The children (for the illustration) are the three sons of the Duke of Buccleugh, whose duchess is a daughter of the Marquis of Bath. An allusion to the family adds interest to the subject, and no one can make such allusions with the grace that you do. The work for which the plate is meant is to be named 'Buds and Blossoms,' and is to give the portraits of all the children of the English aristocracy. It will be a beautiful work, and as it is the first which my niece has undertaken to edit, I am most anxious for its A few lines from your gifted pen will secure this.

success.

"M. BLESSINGTON."

"Gore House, July 10th, 1837.

"I shall fancy that my 'Book of Beauty' can have no luck, and be sure it can have no grace, unless it contains some lines from your pen. The number of plates is now curtailed to twelve instead of nineteen, as formerly, and I have not one to be illustrated, having distributed my twelve before I knew that an alteration was to be made. My drawers are full of prose and verse, from the generosity of contributors, but I prefer one page of yours on any subject to piles from others. Let me therefore have a page, a sonnet, any thing of yours, and then I shall feel confident of success. M. BLESSINGTON."