ainly not written by Mr. Moore, to whom, while the publication
was suspended, they were so positively ascribed."
In the following year, Mr. Moore published the "Memoirs of the Right Hon.
R.B. Sheridan," having previously edited an edition of his works. In
these Memoirs, Mr. Moore has done justice to the character of Sheridan,
neither concealing his follies and vices, nor magnifying his good
qualities. We quote a paragraph from this work for the purpose of
introducing a portion of some very beautiful lines by Mr. Moore, which
first appeared in the _Morning Chronicle_, immediately after Sheridan's
death.
"There appeared some verses at the time, which, however intemperate in
their satire and careless in their style, came, evidently, warm from the
heart of the writer, and contained sentiments to which, even in his
cooler moments he needs not hesitate to subscribe:--
"Oh it sickens the heart to see bosoms so hollow,
And friendships so false in the great and high-born;--
To think what a long line of titles may follow
The relics of him who died, friendless and lorn!
"How proud they can press to the funeral array
Of him whom they shunn'd,in his sickness and sorrow--
How bailiffs may seize his last blanket to-day,
Whose pall shall be held up by Nobles to-morrow!"
The anonymous writer thus characterises the talents of Sheridan:--
"Was this then the fate of that high-gifted man,
The pride of the palace, the bower, and the hall--
The orator, dramatist, minstrel,--who ran
Through each mode of the lyre, and was master of all?
"Whose mind was an essence, compounded, with art.
From the finest and best of all other men's powers;
Who rul'd, like a wizard, the world of the heart,
And could call up its sunshine, or draw down its showers;
"Whose humour, as gay as the fire-fly's light,
Play'd round every subject, and shone as it play'd;
Whose wit, in the combat as gentle as bright,
Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade,--
"Whose eloquence, brightening whatever it tried,
Whether reason or fancy, the gay or the grave,
Was as rapid as deep, and as brilliant a tide,
As ever bore Freedom aloft on its wave!"[1]
In 1827, appeared "The Epicurean," a tale of extreme grace and feeling,
and conveying the sublime lessons of Epicurus, in one of the most
attractive of poetico-prosaic forms. In picturesque knowledge, splendid
descriptions, startli
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