love for him met with a cold return. This piece, under an ingenious mythological fiction, contains a fine compliment to the lady, and much severe satire on the greater part of her sex, as well as on the foppish part of ours. You must, indeed, in reading Swift, arm yourself with patience to endure the most contemptuous treatment of your sex; for which, if really justified by the low state of mental cultivation among the females of that period, you may console yourself by the advantageous comparison afforded by that of the present age. The poem does not finish the real story; for it says, -what success Vanessa met Is to the world a secret yet. The melancholy truth was, that after uniting himself secretly with another woman, he continued to visit Vanessa, and she retained her hopes of softening his obduracy, till a final explanation broke her heart. This poem was in her possession, and and by her direction was published after her death. The Poems to Stella" will naturally follow. This was the lady to whom the former was sacrificed; but she seems to have had little enjoyment in the preference. His pride, or his singularity, made him refuse his consent to the publication of their marriage, and they continued to live apart as mere friends. Yet he appears to have sincerely loved her, probably beyond any other human being; and almost the only sentiments of tenderness in his writings are to be found in the poems addressed to her. This affection, however, does not in general characterize them, and the writer's disposition to raillery breaks out in the midst of his most complimentary strains. A Frenchman would be shocked at his frequent allusions to her advancing years. His exposure of her defects, too, may seem much too free for a lover, or even a husband; and it is easy to conceive that Stella's temper was fully tried in the connection. Yet Yet a woman might be proud of the serious approbation of such a man, which he expresses in language evidently coming from the heart. They are, indeed, Without one word of Cupid's darts, Of killing eyes and bleeding hearts ; but they contain topics of praise which far outlive the short season of youth and beauty. How much superior to frivolous gallantry is the applause testified in lines like these! Say, Stella, feel you no content Your generous boldness to defend An innocent and absent friend; That courage which can make you just To merit humbled in the dust; The detestation you express For vice in all its glittering dress; That patience under tort'ring pain Where stubborn stoics would complain? In In the lines"To Stella visiting him in sickness," there is a picture of honour, as influencing the female mind, which is morally sublime, and deserves attentive study: Ten thousand oaths upon record Are not so sacred as her word; Ere Stella can deceive a friend; &c. There is something truly touching in the description of Stella's ministring in the sick chamber, where -with a soft and silent tread Unheard she moves about the bed. In all these pieces there is an originality which proves how much the author's genius was removed from any thing trite and vulgar indeed, his life, character and writings were all singularly his own, and distinguished from those of other men. May I now, without offence, direct you by way of contrast to the " Journal of a Modern Lady?" It is, indeed, an outrageous satire on your sex, but one perfectly harmless harmless with respect to yourself or any whom you love. I point it out as an admirable example of the author's familiar and colloquial manner. It also exhibits a specimen of his powers in that branch of poetical invention which is regarded as one of the higher efforts of the art. A more animated group of personifications is not easily to be met with than the following lines exhibit: When, frighted at the clamorous crew, And fair Discretion left the place, Rude Laughter, seeming like to burst, And Malice, always judging worst, And Vanity with pocket-glass, And Impudence with front of brass, Flew hov'ring o'er each female head. The |