violent harangue. "Dara ought not to live," he exclaimed, “the safety of the state depends upon his immediate execution; and I feel the less reluctant to recommend his being put to death, be cause he had abjured his religion, and avowed himself a kaffer. If it be sinful to shed the blood of such a person, may the sin be visited upon my own head!" an imprecation which was not allowed to pass unregarded; for Divine justice overtook this man in his career of wickedness: he was soon disgraced, declared infamous, and sentenced to a miserable death.

2017

The charge of this atrocious murder was intrusted to a slave of the name of Nazir, who had been educated by Shan-Jehan, but experienced some ill-treatment from Dara. The prince, apprehensive that poison would be administered to him, was employed with Sipper-Shekô in boiling lentils, when Nazir and four other ruffians entered his apartment. "My dear son," he cried out, "these men are come to murder us!" He then seized a small kitchen knife, the only weapon in his possession. One of the murderers having secured Sipper-Shekô, the rest fell upon Dara, threw him down, and while three of the assassins held him, Nazir decapitated his wretched victim. The head was instantly carried to Aurengzebe, who commanded that it should be placed on a dish, and that water should be brought. The blood was then washed from the face, and when it could no longer be doubted that it was indeed the head of Dara, he shed tears, and said, "Ah, Bedbakt! unhappy man! let this shocking sight no more offend my eyes, but take away the head, and bury it in Humaioon's sepulchre."

200

Epistle to a Friend.

S. ROGERS.

(ÎN 1786 was published, "An Ode to Superstition, with other Poems." This was the first work of Samuel Rogers, who was born in 1763, and died in 1855. Rogers, himself a banker of the city of London, was the son of a city banker. He received a liberal education; his taste was assiduously cultivated. At a time which preceded the early days of Coleridge, and Words

worth, and Southey, and Campbell, Rogers produced "The Pleasures of Memory," which appeared in 1792. His other most considerable poem, "Italy," did not appear till 1830. There are few such examples of the imagi nation and the taste remaining unchanged for half a century. The "Epistle to a Friend," which we give below, was printed in the same beautifully illustrated volume with "The Pleasures of Memory," in 1834, but was originally published in 1798. In his preface to this charming poem Mr Rogers says, "It is the design of this epistle to illustrate the virtue of True Taste; and to show how little she requires to secure, not only the comforts, but even the elegancies of life. True Taste is an excellent economist. She confines her choice to few objects, and delights in producing great effects by small means; while False Taste is for ever sighing after the new and the rare; and reminds us, in her works, of the scholar of Apelles, who, not being able to paint his Helen beautiful, determined to make her fine."]

When, with a Reaumur's skill, thy curious mind
Has class'd the insect tribes of human-kind.
Each with its busy hum, or gilded wing,

Its subtle web-work, or its venom'd sting:
Let me, to claim a few unvalued hours,

Point out the green lane rough with fern and flowers;
The shelter'd gate that opens to my field,

And the white front thro' mingling elms reveal'd.

In vain, alas, a village friend invites

To simple comforts, and domestic rites,
When the gay months of Carnival resume
Their annual round of glitter and perfume;
When London hails thee to its splendid mart,
Its hives of sweets, and cabinets of art;
And, lo! majestic as thy manly song,
Flows the full tide of human life along."

Still must my partial pencil love to dwell
On the home-prospects of my hermit-cell;
The mossy pales that skirt the orchard-green,
Here hid by shrub-wood, there by glimpses seen;
And the brown pathway, that, with careless flow,
Sinks, and is lost among the trees below.
Still must it trace (the flattering tints forgive)
Each fleeting charm that bids the landscape live.

Oft o'er the mead, at pleasing distance, pass,
Browsing the hedge by fits, the pannier'd ass;
The idling shepherd-boy, with rude delight,
Whistling his dog to mark the pebbles' flight;
And in her kerchief blue the cottage-maid,
With brimming pitcher from the shadowy glade.
Far to the south a mountain-vale retires,

Rich in its groves, and glens, and village spires;
Its upland-lawns, and cliffs with foliage hung,
Its wizard stream, nor nameless, nor unsung;
And through the various years, the various day,
What scenes of glory burst, and melt away!

When April verdure springs in Grosvenor Square,
And the furr'd beauty comes to winter there,
She bids old Nature mar the plan no more;
Yet still the seasons circle as before.
Ah! still as soon the young Aurora plays,

Tho' moons and flambeaux trail their broadest blaze;
As soon the skylark pours his matin song,
Tho' evening lingers at the mask so long.

There let her strike with momentary ray,
As tapers shine their little lives away;
There let her practise from herself to steal,
And look the happiness she does not feel;
The ready smile and bidden blush employ
At Faro-routs, that dazzle to destroy;
Fan with affected ease the essenced air,
And lisp of fashions with unmeaning stare.
Be thine to meditate an humbler flight,
When morning fills the fields with rosy light;
Be thine to blend, nor thine a vulgar aim,
Repose with dignity-with quiet, fame.

Here no state-chambers in long line unfold,

Bright with broad mirrors, rough with fretted gold;
Yet modest ornament, with use combined,
Attracts the eye to exercise the mind.

Small change of scene, small space, his home requires, Who leads a life of satisfied desires.

What tho' no marble breathes, no canvas glows,
From every point a ray of genius flows!

Be mine to bless the more mechanic skill,
That stamps, renews, and multiplies at will;
And cheaply circulates, through distant climes,
The fairest relics of the purest times.

Here from the mould to conscious being start
Those finer forms, the miracles of art;
Here chosen gems, imprest on sulphur, shine,
That slept for ages in a second mine;
And here the faithful graver dares to trace
A Michael's grandeur, and a Raphael's grace!
Thy gallery, Florence, gilds my humble walls;
And my low roof the Vatican recalls!

Soon as the morning dream my pillow flies,
To waking sense what brighter visions rise!
Oh mark! again the coursers of the sun,
At Guido's call, their round of glory run!
Again the rosy Hours resume their flight,
Obscured and lost in floods of golden light!

But could thine erring friend so long forget
(Sweet source of pensive joy and fond regret)
That here its warmest hues the pencil flings,
Lo! here the lost restores, the absent brings;
And still the few best loved and most revered
Rise round the board their social smile endear'd;
Selected shelves shall claim thy studious hours,
There shall thy ranging mind be fed on flowers!
There, while the shaded iamp's mild lustre streams,
Read ancient books, or dream-inspiring dreams;
And, when a sage's bust arrests thee there,
Pause, and his features with his thoughts compare.
-Ah! most that art my grateful rapture calls,
Which breathes a soul into the silent walls;

Which gathers round the wise of every tongue,
All on whose words departed nations hung;

Still prompt to charm with many a converse sweet;
Guides in the world, companions in retreat!
Tho' my
thatch'd bath no rich mosaic knows,
A limpid spring with unfelt current flows.
Emblem of life! which still as we survey,
Seems motionless, yet ever glides away!
The shadowy walls record, with Attic art,
The strength and beauty which its waves impart.
Here Thetis, bending with a mother's fears,
Dips her dear boy, whose pride restrains his tears;
There Venus, rising, shrinks with sweet surprise,
As her fair self, reflected, seems to rise!

Far from the joyless glare, the maddening strife, And all the dull impertinence of life,

These eyelids open to the rising ray,

And close, when Nature bids, at close of day.
Here, at the dawn, the kindling landscape glows;
There noon-day levées call from faint repose.
Here the flush'd wave flings back the parting light;
There glimmering lamps anticipate the night.
When from his classic dreams the student steals,
Amid the buzz of crowds, the whirl of wheels.
To muse unnoticed-while around him press
The meteor forms of equipage and dress;
Alone, in wonder lost, he seems to stand
A very stranger in his native land!

And (tho' perchance of current coin possest,
And modern phrase by living lips exprest)
Like those blest youths, forgive the fabling page,
Whose blameless lives deceived a twilight age,
Spent in sweet slumbers; till the miner's spade
Unclosed the cavern, and the morning play'd.
Ah, what their strange surprise, their wild delight!
New arts of life, new manners, meet their sight!