New-York daily tribune., 1843-10-18
WHOLE NO. 7s5.

of his hopes. During the day he begged from
door to door for the Su>tcnancc that alone enabled
| him to pursue his course; at night, he lay N the
! open fields, for the want OF even pallet OF straw
to receive his weary limbs. When he arrived at
the metropolis, he had been the whole day with
out so much as a crumb There was no one, in
all the mighty multitude or human beings. who
was likely to give hlm enough to eat to keep hu
alive one night. But thought struck hun He
| had gone without his shoes; why could he not
also GO without his waiStcoat 1t was happy
thought, considering all things, and away he post
cd to Rag Far, to sell the supertiuous garment
! Once more he had money in his pocket, amount
ing, when all told. TO Just cIghtpcnce, about SiX-
teen red cents y penny loaf, bought to relieve
the instant demands of hunger, and ou- penny
worth of paper, to receive the thoughts which
| his outlook into Gods universe at that time Sur-
gested were the results of his first expenditure
How sweet that morscl of bread. How pleasant
that home of compoStion in the midst OF dingy
coal-heaycrS and the squalld sediment OF London
life Not many, we think, IN this world, have
had such an experience.
'' But why waste the few pennies he had IN
buying paper, whercon to write parcel of silly
verses - asks worldly wise man, who has funds
in the stocks. 1T would have been much better
to have saved them against the next fit of empt-
ness of the stomach" Granted oh most worthy
individual, for so the event proved. The poor
fellow had iancied that he might write something
which the publishers would ouy it was only
fancy. What would well-tcd publishers have to
DO with shoccss, coatess, hunger stricken me-
chanlc ! The lean, haggard, joyless look OF the
famshcd bard were enough on that head so no
negotiation was entered into for the needed shil.
| ling. He was again left to wander along the busy
streets. All around him he saw prolusion of
| wealth magnificent houses, costly eGuipages
men and women, dressed in silks and velvcts ;
the very dogs IN the cutters more fat than he.
But not lot of this wealth existed for him; the
| exquisite gentlemen, who heedlcssly jostly him
from the pavement, perhaps rcvclcd in 1t the su-
perfine lady, ewing him with a curious stare from
her gilt carriage, perhaps avlSlled great portion
Of it on lapdogs and iavorte cats; yet he, tcl-
low and man, the child Of God, the heir Of nm
mortality, might not SO much as av little finger
on the smallest particle OF the abundance. Fierce
dragons indeed, guarded the golden fruit of that
Hesperidcs. Nay, more, he could not enter with
impunity into one OF those many thousand houses.
An insuperable embargo kept hun out Of those sa-
cred harbors an invisible law of quarantlncm made
him an infected outcast from society. The cold
stones of gateways were his pillows; the hard,
bare bricks his couch.
The third day he left London, to attempt to
find his way to Hyde. We shall not dwell
upon the incidents of his travel His bio
grapher lets US into much of the history of it.,
in these words: Son his route, he ground corn
at Birmingham, sung ballads at Leicester, lay
under the trees in Sherwood Forest, lodged in a
vagrant Office at Derby, made his bvouac at
Blackwell in lock. up, and finally reached Hyde,
| but found alas it contained for hm home no
longer, =, While he had been suffering abroad,
his wife and family had been suffering at home.
The wretched woman, in spite of her perscverlng,
never-endng cXcrtIons, was unable to support
their children she was forced, to avoid utter star
vation, to apply for parish aid and she had, in
consequence, been removed to the poor-houSe in
Wigan. Ththcr Prince nastened, and having
discovered thcm brought them back to Manchcs-
ter, in the hope of getting employment. Here
they inhabited a garrett without fire, clothes or
furniture, for several months, until the poems of
the father attracted the notice Of some charitable
persons, by whose aid they were published. tie
has since been enabled to live III more comfort
able way but we follow the history no further.
These were the circumstances OF his life. And
what effect have they had in moulding the man
How have they taught him to regard this strange
existence into which he has been cast What
thinks he of the men and things around hlm and
how has he come out of the battle Here are
questions of no small interest to those who wish
to know the various phases Of our many sided hu
Inanty, and of the influence that external facts
have upon it. In other words, what sort of mu-
sic has this pressure and ostllng ground out OF the
nature Of Prince We answer, a very toerable
and even pleasant kind Of music. From out of
the dark cntanglegents and plnchng straits Of his
lifelong distress, he has managed 10 send up
strains of sweetness and hope. No heart-plercng
wall, no gloomy mutterings, no bitter curslngs
come from him but rather the subdued plant OF
a manly heart touched by sympathy for his
fellows. He is joyful in the presence of Nature
and God, and only sad when he looks at hls dc
based and down-troddcn brother Yet ne does
not despair an instinct of goodness fills HIM with
ioYiul hope for the future.
Let it be understood, that Prince is not great
man, in the high sense OF the word be IS not
one of those robust spirits, who tralnplc down
the obstacles of fate with the firm tread of giant
He is simply one that has not been overcome by
evil. In the midst of 50 much that would have
crushed feeber natures he has retained his lnteg-
rtv. Ills spirit IS uhofoheh oy t!ie lou9h ana
tumble of his career. Poverty has not corrupted
him, nor has it made him much better than he
would otherwise have been. The talent the Mas
ter gave him has been returned, without loss, if
not with manifold increase. This will be seen
from his poems, which We proceed to give an ac
count OF, as fully as our limits will allow. The
longest of them is called The Poets Sabbath
and cmbodies the feelings and reflections OF
hard-woEked man during his hebdomadai cmancl-
patton 1t is production of no mean character
a quick sensibility to the influence of outward
nature, delicate fancy, the love of freedom and
meditation, tender sympathy for man, are the
qualities which it shows the author to possess IN