Star.
London, England, 1827-10-10 00:00:00

LITERARY ANECDOTES.

FROai A CORRESPONDENT.

Few readers of taste can hive forgotten the impres-
sion first produced on their minds by the exquisite rural
tales and descriptions of the late Rosser BLCOMPIILD.
The latter days of this worthy, unassuming man, were
darkened by poverty and affliction. The failure of his
publ.sbers —some expensive, unproductive law-suits—
ill Ivalth—a too easy and generous disposition—anJ
eculiar fan i'y misfortunes—imperceptibly involved his
affairs in contusion, and stoic ham into a state of nerve-
less, hopeless, despondency, from which he was only
relieved by death. One of his warmest and steadiest
friends, a liv:ng poet, of high reputation, attempted at
one t'me :o procure his appointment to a humble situ-
ation, then vacant, in one 01 the subordinate offices of

Government. Bloomfield was every way qualified for
the office, and his friend, Mr. R. lost no time in apply-
ing to a N. bleman, then high in his Majesty's Councils,
to endeavour to secure the appointment. The request
was instantly granted. " Nothing," his Lordship was
pleased to say, " would afford him greater pleasure than
than to fulfil the wishes of Mr. R. and oblige his friend
the poet, in so slight a matter." Day, however, sue•.
ceeded day, and no appointment took placeit was
not entered in t!'e bond. But as great men have some-
times bad n emories, and are troubled after many things,
it was possible that the promise might be
.acciden-
tally forgotten. A second application was accordingly
made to Lord S. and a second promise returned, with
numerous apoltsies for his Lordship's unintentional
lapse of memory. Another delay, however, took place;
the application was again renewed, another hollow
promise was' iven, and in a few days poor .Bloomfield
blamed that Lord. S. had conferred thuiracant office,
upon another individual! Jr boson was right insayius
'that booksellers Le. the best patrons of gentles.
To mark the sort. of fatality which hung cver ;bit
worldly affairs of Bloomfield, after the first burst of his
popularity bad subsided, we shall :elate another inci•
cident:-.-At a dinner pity in the metropolis, a few
years since, the altered circumstances of the rural poet
happened to form the topic of ceiversation, when one
of the company temarkedi that an annuity, which to a
certain amount he thought thercwould be no difficulty
in raising, would form the most effectual plan of re-
lis•ing the poet, and contributing to his permanent
tranquillity and welfare. " I myself,' addeJ the gen-
leman, " will cheerfully give five pounds per annum."
The do.igti was applauded, but met with no support;
nd though the gentleman alluded to offered to sub-
scribe even ten pounds, to attain the end desired, it was
found necessary to abandon the scheme. Pour Bloom•
field had fallen into what Jeremy Taylor calls the " por-
tion of weeds and outworn face ." In justice to a kind
and generous spirit, let us state, that the benevolent
individual alluded to was Mr. Southey.
Our next anecdote shall be one of another poet, who,
like Bloomfield, had to climb the steep of fame from
the level of the sea. We allude to the celebrated Ro-
bert Burns. It has been observed by Sir Walter Scotts,
'that Burns had none of that chivalrous sensibility of
honour which places reason on the sword's point. • He
was, more over, somewhat hereeical in his opinions about
the French Revolution. But Burns was, nevertheless,
a brave man and a good citizen. When the threatened
invasion of the French Republicans menaced our shore,
he enrolled himself a member of a corps of volunteers,
established at Dumfries, and was, during the short
remainder of his li:e, distished for his zeal io the
cause of rational liberty. ,ous to one s f the public
meetings of his regiment, it was hinted to the port,
that something in the shape of a song or speech would
e expected from him—some effocon on the glory of
Britain and the pattiotic ardour of old Scotland. Burns
said nothing, and as silence gives consent, it was gene-
rally expected that the lyre of the poet would be strung
for the occasion. The day ac length arrived, and the
coom was crowded with the civic soldiers, and their
lioyal tows smen. After the cloth was withdrawn, and
the customary toasts pledged in bumpers, the Poet was
called upon. He stood up, the company rising 'instil•
umeously with him and slowly lifting his glass, he said,
with an arch, indescribable smile, 64 Gentlemen, may
we never seethe French, or.the French see us l" It is im-
possible to describe the disappointment which was
painted on the countenances of the expectant volunteers.
They dropt doe n to their seats, to use the words of our
info rniant, like so many old a ives at a field preaching,
Or ugh they afterwards confessed, that there was as
much good sense and right feeling in the poet's toast,
.AS could be found in the most splendid or his poem,. •
• in se article on Burns, in the arst number of the Quarterly
IReview.

By a letter dated Tiinchinopoly, May 20, it appears
that the 48th Regiment, under Lieutenant Col. Taylor,
'enjoyed good he ilth I the climate was very salubrious,
..nd provision of every kind sere eatteme.7 cheap.