Has immortality of name been given

To them that idly worship hills and groves,
And burn sweet incense to the queen of heaven?
Did Newton learn from fancy, as it roves,

To measure worlds, and follow where each moves?
Did Howard gain renown that shall not cease,

By wanderings wild that nature's pilgrim loves?
Or did Paul gain heaven's glory and its peace
By musing o'er the bright and tranquil isles of Greece?

Beware lest thou, from sloth, that would appear
But lowliness of mind, with joy proclaim

Thy want of worth,- -a charge thou couldst not hear
From other lips, without a blush of shame,
Or pride indignant; then be thine the blame,
And make thyself of worth; and thus enlist

The smiles of all the good, the dear to fame;
'Tis infamy to die and not be miss'd,

Or let all soon forget that thou didst e'er exist.

Rouse to some work of high and holy love,
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know;
Shalt bless the earth while in the world above;
The good begun by thee shall onward flow
In many a branching stream, and wider grow;
The seed that, in these few and fleeting hours,

Thy hands, unsparing and unwearied, sow,
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers,
And yield thee fruits divine in heaven's immortal bowers.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

THIS eminent poet and political philosopher, the son of Peter Bryant, M.D., of Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, was born in that town on the 3d of November, 1794. When only ten years of age, Mr. Bryant produced several small poems, which, though bearing, of course, the marks of immaturity, were thought of sufficient merit to be published in a neighboring newspaper,—the "Hampshire Gazette." After going through the usual preparatory studies, he entered the sophomore class of Williams College, in 1810, and for two years pursned his studies with commendable industry,-being distinguished more especially for his fondness of the classics. Anxious, however, to begin the profession which he had chosen, the law, he procured an honorable dismission at the end of the junior year, and in 1815 was admitted to practice at the bar of Plymouth. But Mr. Bryant did not, during the period of his professional studies, neglect the cultivation of his poetic talents. In 1808, before he entered college, he had published, in Boston, a satirical poem which attracted so much attention that a second edition was demanded the next year. But what gave him his early, enviable rank as a poet was the publication, in the "North American Review,"

in 1817, of the poem Thanatopsis, written four years before, (in 1812.) That a young man, not yet nineteen, should have produced a poem so lofty in conception and so beautiful in execution, so full of chaste language and delicate and striking imagery, and, above all, so pervaded by a noble and cheerful religious philosophy, may well be regarded as one of the most remarkable examples of early maturity in literary history. Nor did this production stand alone: the Inscription for an Entrance into a Wood followed in 1813; and The Waterfowl in 1816. In 1821, he wrote his longest poem, The Ages, which was delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College, and soon after published in Boston in connection with his other poems. The appearance of this volume at once placed Mr. Bryant in the very front rank of American poets.

In 1822, Mr. Bryant was married to Miss Fairchild, of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, whither he had removed to prosecute his profession. But, though skilful and successful in it, he preferred to devote his life to the more congenial pursuits of literature; and in 1825 he removed to New York, where he edited a monthly periodical, "The New York Review and Athenæum Magazine," in which appeared many forcible and just criticisms, and some of his best poems. In 1826, he became the editor of the "Evening Post,""-one of the oldest and most influential of the daily gazettes in our country. At once its columns evinced new spirit and vigor, and it became the leading journal of the so-called "Democratic" party, supporting its views in relation to banks, free trade, &c. with signal ability. But in later years, when he thought that that party had abandoned the principles of its founders, and was becoming too much the ally of the slave-power, he divorced himself from it, and devoted his talents and influence to the cause of republican freedom.1

Mr. Bryant has visited Europe five times,-in 1834, 1836, 1849, 1852, and 1857, enriching his journal with his letters descriptive of the scenes, places, countries, and persons visited. In 1850, he published a collection of letters written during his travels, under the title of Letters of a Traveller, of which several editions have appeared. His letters written during his last tour, mostly in Spain, have been lately published, and form the Second Series of Letters of a Traveller. But notwithstanding the ease and charm of his descriptive style, and its terseness and power in discussing political subjects, it is as a poet that Mr. Bryant will ever be most known, most loved, and most honored.2

1 When the "Evening Post" completed its first half-century, in 1851, Mr. Bryant wrote its history, which appeared in a pamphlet.

2 For criticisms of Mr. Bryant's poetry, read articles in "Democratic Review," vols. vii. and x.; "North American Review," vols. xiii., xxxiv., and lv.; "Christian Examiner," vols. xxii. and xxxiii.; "American Quarterly Review," vol. xx. In the "Democratic Review" for February, 1845, is a fine article on his poetry, by H. T. Tuckerman. In the "North American Review" for January, 1844, are the following just and well-written remarks:

His poems are almost perfect of their kind. The fruits of meditation, rather than of passion or imagination, and rarely startling with an unexpected image or sudden outbreak of feeling, they are admirable specimens of what may be called the philosophy of the soul. They address the finer instincts of our nature with a voice so winning and gentle, they search out with such subtle power all in the heart which is true and good, that their influence, though quiet, is resistless.