[632] Mezzotinto engraving. Mr. Park, in early youth, fluctuated in the choice between the sister arts of poetry, music, and painting, and composed the following lines to record the result.
By fancy warm'd, I seiz'd the quill,
And poetry the strain inspir'd;
Music improv'd it by her skill,
Till I with both their charms was fir'd.
Won by the graces each display'd,
Their younger sister I forgot;
Though first to her my vows were paid,—
By fate or choice it matters not.
She, jealous of their rival powers,
And to repay the injury done,
Condemn'd me through life's future hours,
All to admire, but wed with none.
T. P.
[633] Drummond, an elegant Scottish poet, born in 1585. His works, though not free from the conceits of the Italian School, are characterised by much delicacy of taste and feeling. There is a peculiar melody and sweetness in his verse, and his sonnets particularly have procured for him a fame, which has survived to the present time. An edition of his Poems was published in 1791, by Cowper's correspondent, Mr. Park.
[634] Private correspondence
[635] We have already stated that Hayley was engaged in a life of Milton, when Cowper was announced as editor of Johnson's projected work. With a generosity that reflects the highest credit on his feelings, he addressed a letter on this occasion to Cowper, accompanied by a complimentary sonnet, and offering his kind aid in anyway that might prove most acceptable. The letter was entrusted to the bookseller, who delayed transmitting it six weeks, and thereby created great anxiety in Hayley's mind.
[636] A juvenile offering of gratitude to the place where the writer had received his education.
[637] Dr. Douglas.
[638] Lauder endeavoured to depreciate the fame of Milton by a charge of plagiarism. Dr. Douglas successfully vindicated the great poet from such an imputation, and proved that it was a gross fiction on the part of Lauder.
[639] Private correspondence.