But still in upright deeds appearing, A pride which even Angels love;- But claim'd affiance with the dove. Yet bled it freely from each smart Of Hatred's bow, and Slander's dart; Tho' giant Pride, in strength appearing, Mark'd the tear through many a furrow, Still-oh! still-devoid of fearing Boldly beat that Heart of Sorrow. It beat:-Affliction long had worn Those tender strings which health impart, And many a brutal hand had torn The reeking ruins of that heart. Grief drew the bow its peace to sever, Rent, whene'er the arrow flew ; Will yet light up that Heart of Sorrow. VIOLA. " She had a form; but I might talk till night, Young as the sun is now upon our watch, Ere I had told its beauties-it was slight, E'en as yon willow, and like its soft stem, Fell into thousand motions, and all lovely. But for her cheek-look on those streaks of rose Tinting the white clouds o'er us, now and then A flush of deeper crimson lighting up With the dark tress that veil'd it. When I sat Beneath her eye, I felt its splendour on me Like a bright spell.-'Tis not the diamond's ray, Nor vesper star-light, nor aught beautiful voice Spoke to me, or, at ev'ning o'er her lute, Breath'd some old melody, or clos'd the day [Oct, 1, The soul that was shrouded in sorrow's dark night A peace-promising beam woke to gladness and light; And the lute that so long, lorn, and tuneless had hung, Once more with the wild notes of harmony rung! Ah! why did that beam only shine to beguile, Ah! why did it teach the fond mourner to smile? Why faithlessly grant him a seeming reprieve, Then, leave him in sadness still deeper to grieve? The light is gone by-and the music is o'er, And the feelings so lovely-are lovely no more That soul once again its dark vigils is keeping, ERRATA-In our last Number, in the" Sonnet to ****" line 6, for gift read debt; and in the "Sonnet written at the Chateau de Clarens," line 13, for each read such. WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQR Engraved for the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, Published Oct. 1818 by Henry Colburn Conduit Street Meyer sculp 1818.] [ 235 ] MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. WILLIAM GIFFORD, ESQ. (With a Portrait.) As the gentleman whose portrait enriches our present number has given an interesting and unassuming account of himself in the Introduction to his version of Juvenal, we are relieved from the necessity of doing more than adapting the same to the ordinary form of biographical composition. Mr. GIFFORD speaks with peculiar modesty of his family, though he observes that his great-grandfather possessed considerable property at Halsworth, a parish near Ashburton, whence it is inferred that he was a native of Devonshire. Of this there can be no doubt, for the name is of old standing in that county, and though spelt with a slight variation, the different branches of GIFFORD and GIFFARD certainly sprang from the same stock, as we could prove from pedigrees which have passed through our hands, as well as from the collections of Sir William Pole and other local historians. The grandfather of Mr. Gifford was a very dissipated man, and his son was equally wild, running away from the grammar-school at Exeter, and entering on board a ship of war, from which being recovered, he was placed again at school, but eloped a second time, and became an associate with the noted Bampfylde Moore Carew, whose history is still fresh in remembrance through all the western counties. On leaving this extraordinary person, Edward Gifford articled himself to a plumber and glazier, which business he afterwards carried on at South Molton, in his native county, having succeeded to two small estates, and married the daughter of a carpenter at Ashburton. Being, however, of a restless disposition, and fond of company, he got into trouble, which drove him once more to sea, while his wife, then pregnant of our author, returned to Ashburton, where she was delivered in April, 1756. The resources of the poor woman were very scanty, consisting only of the rent of three or four small fields, which yet remained unsold. With these, however, she economized as well as she could, and when her child was old enough to go to school, he was sent to a woman of the name of Parret, from whom he learned to read in the spelling book. In 1761, the father returned from sea; but though he had been at the taking of the Havannah, he brought home with him very little of the prize money and wages which he had received. However, with that, and the sale of the small landed property which remained, he was enabled to set up business a second time as a glazier and house painter. The son, now about eight years old, was put to the freeschool, kept by Mr. Hugh Smerdon, where he learnt writing and common arithmetic. At the age of eleven he lost his father, and the widow, who was burthened with a second child about six or eight months old, was imprudent enough to keep on the business, trusting solely to a couple of journeymen, who wasted the property and embezzled her money. In less than a twelvemonth she also died of extreme grief, leaving two orphans entirely destitute. The effects that remained were seized by an unfeeling creditor, who alleged claims, on the score of money advanced, which no one could dispute. The youngest child was sent to the almshouse, followed by his nurse out of pure affection, and the eldest was taken home by the person just mentioned, who happened to be his god-father. Respect for the opinion of the town, which was that he had fully repaid himself, by the sale of the property, induced him to send the youth again to school; but in less than three months he took him away to follow the plough. The boy, however, was too delicate for such laborious work, and he had besides an unconquerable aversion to it, which induced his oppressor to look out for some other employment. With this design he conducted him to Dartmouth, in the hope of sending him to Newfoundland; but the merchant to whom he applied for that purpose refused to take him, on account of his diminutive stature. The god-father now placed him as cabin boy with the master of a coasting sloop at Brixham, in which vessel he remained about twelve months, and was then unexpectedly fetched home by a messenger to Ashburton, where the people, commiserating his condition, interested themselves so warmly in his favour, that his god-father, fearing their resentment, thought it most prudent to 236 Memoir of William Gifford, Esq. recall the object of their pity from the state of wretchedness to which he was reduced. This was at Christmas; and after the holidays the youth was placed once more at school, where he made a very rapid progress in his learning, and was soon qualified to assist his master in teaching the other boys. He was now in his fifteenth year, and began to form the visionary hope of being able to set up as a schoolmaster himself, when the harsh controller of his will took the resolution of binding him to a shoemaker. This was a sore disappointment, but resistance was useless, and the indentures being duly executed, our author was condemned to the awl and the last for the space of seven long years. To increase his misfortune, his new master was a surly Presbyterian, full of the obstinacy of his sect, and a determined enemy to literature. With such a man it was not likely that the boy could add much to his little stock of knowledge; still, as he did not despair of one day succeeding Mr. Hugh Smerdon in the free-school, he secretly prosecuted his favourite study of arithmetic at every interval of leisure. These intervals were not frequent, and when the use he made of them was discovered, they became less so: the reason of which for some time he was at a loss to discover, but at length it appeared that the shoemaker destined his own son for the same situation. Our apprentice at this time possessed but one book in the world, and this was a Treatise on Algebra, given to him by a young woman who had found it in a lodging-house. This he considered as a treasure, but it was a treasure locked up; for it supposed the reader to be already well acquainted with simple equation, and of that he had no knowledge. His master's son, however, had purchased Fenning's Introduction, and this book, which is extremely simple, young Gifford contrived to read without being discovered, which prepared him thoroughly for comprehending the Treatise he already possessed. But there were still other obstacles, for he had not a farthing to purchase pen, ink, and paper, to supply which he beat out pieces of leather, and wrought problems on them with a blunted awl. Hitherto he was a stranger to poetry, and scarcely knew it by name. His first attempt at versifying was occasioned by a whimsical circumstance. A country painter had engaged to paint a sign for an ale-house; but instead of giving the representation of a lion, he exhibited a dog. This produced much [Oct. 1, mirth, and one of Gifford's acquaintance |