ty-five years later, he met Rogers, Wordsworth, Campbell, Moore, as
social equals, and having, like them, won a public for himself. When his
next volumes appeared, the workmanship proved, as of old, unequal, but
here and there Crabbe showed a musical ear, and an individuality of
touch of a different order from anything he had achieved before. Mr.
Courthope and other critics hold that there are passages in Crabbe's
earliest poems, such as _The Village_, which have a metrical charm he
never afterwards attained. But I strongly suspect that in such passages
Crabbe had owed much to the revising hand of Burke, Johnson, and Fox.

In the spring of 1819 Crabbe was again in town, visiting at Holland
House, and dining at the Thatched House with the "Literary Society," of
which he had been elected a member, and which to-day still dines and
prospers. He was then preparing for the publication of his new Tales,
from the famous house in Albemarle Street. Two years before, in 1817, on
the strength doubtless of Rogers's strong recommendation, Murray had
made a very liberal offer for the new poems, and the copyright of all
Crabbe's previous works. For these, together, Murray had offered three
thousand pounds. Strangely enough, Rogers was at first dissatisfied with
the offer, holding that the sum should be paid for the new volumes
alone. He and a friend (possibly Campbell), who had conducted the
negotiation, accordingly went off to the house of Longman to see if they
could not get better terms. To their great discomfiture the Longmans
only offered L1000 for the privilege that Murray had valued at three
times the amount; and Crabbe and his friends were placed in a difficult
position. A letter of Moore to John Murray many years afterwards, when
Crabbe's _Memoir_ was in preparation, tells the sequel of the story, and
it may well be given in his words:

"In this crisis it was that Mr. Rogers and myself, anxious
to relieve our poor friend from his suspense, called upon
you, as you must well remember, in Albemarle Street; and
seldom have I watched a countenance with more solicitude,
or heard words that gave me much more pleasure than
when, on the subject being mentioned, you said 'Oh! yes.
I have heard from Mr. Crabbe, and look upon the matter as
all settled.' I was rather pressed, I remember, for time that
morning, having an appointment on some business of my
own, but Mr. Rogers insisted that I should accompany him
to Cr