The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

1164

ushers, he earnestly and anxiously endeavoured to discover
some means by which his purse might be replenished
speedily, without much labour or delay. His last
sovereign had dwindled to half ; his credit he did not wish
to test, and with ideas quickened, by what John Taylor
quaintly calls, " Wit's whetstone, Want," he resolved to
correct, and offer to the publishers, a series of miscel-
laneous essays which he had from time to time composed,
and which now swelled to the proportions of an octavo
volume. He arranged the manuscript for inspection in
a few hours, and early the following morning set out in
search of a purchaser. He valued the papers lightly, and
his hope of finding a publisher willing to buy them was
almost forlorn. Mrs. Banim spent that lonely day in
anxious expectation of his return. At length, late in the
evening, he entered their little drawing-room. He looked
weary and despondent, and seating himself by his wife's
able he gazed mournfully in her sad face : he drew her
towards him, kissed her tenderly, but spoke not a wor,l.
She feared to question; but after he had sat ►n silence for
a minute, he sprang from his seat, crying, " Ellen, my
darling, hold out your dress for a present," and in a
moment he threw into her lap a shower of bright clinking
guineas—and kissing her once more, whilst his eyes
laughed out in all the joy of his heart's triumph, he cried,
" There, Ellen, there are thirty guineas, the price of the
essays."

The work by which Banim is principally
known is the " Tales by the O'Hara Family,"
which he wrote in conjunction with his
brother Michael ; but he was, when in health,
an indefatigable contributor to magazines and
newspapers, and we could wish Mr. Murray
had been able to collect more information
upon this subject. Any facts tending to illus-
trate the means by which literary men have
been able to subsist in London during the
earlier stages of their career are very valuable
to authors and very interesting to the public.
It was about 1830 that Banim's health com-
pletely broke down. He ►vas compelled to
reside in France, and, being unable to con-
tinue his literary pursuits, a subscription was
opened for his support, to which many emi-
nent names were appended. When he was
finally declared to be incurable, he resolved
to return home, and, happier than his poor
countryman, Goldsmith, was enabled to accom-
plish his desire—to lay his head among those
" humble bowers " where he had wandeeed
when a boy, fell of literary enthusiasm—

Around his fire an evening group to draw,
And tell of all he felt and all he saw—

and to breathe his last, not iu lonely chambers,
but with friends and relations round his bed.

He died in the month of July, 1849, leaving
behind him a widow and an only child—his
daughter May. She died of consumption two
years afterwards, but his widow received a
pension from Sir Robert Peel, and his brother
Michael is now postmaster at Kilkenny. As
the life of a genuine " literary man," neither
so low as to come within the class of scrib-
blers, nor so high as to be above the small
pecuniary anxieties attendant on the profes-
sion of literature, this volume will repay at-
tention, and most probably attain popularity.