The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-11-16

slIua'ioh anu iSoiipSS5 WulCu Is Tue us
tinguishing mark Of difference between
thu truly charitable and refined and their
couuterfeits. MIS-. Burke shared with
her husband in sympathy for the poet,
and endeavored by every delicate atten-
ton to remove from Crabbe's mind any
painful sense of obligation. They were
indeed we'll paid for this good deed, by a
gratitude which was felt through life by
the object of their philanthropy. Show
ing desire to become q priest in the
English Church, Burke obtained for
Crabbe the position of chaplain to the
Duke of Rutland. On the death of his
patron, he became rector of a church in
Suffolk. Here he lost his wife. Upon
a scrap of paper, in which he had wrapped
Der wedding ring, was found at Crabbe's
death these lines, which 80 we'll tell the
story of faithful love and never dying re-
membrance
"The ring so worn, as you behold,
So thin, SO pale, is yet of gold
! The passion such it was to prove;
Worn with lifes cares love- yet was love"
Tho closing years of our poets life
were spent in the strict and conscientious
discharge of his parochial duties, varied
occasionally by visit to London, where
he was received as an houored guest in
tho most brilliant society that the city
could boast.
said in the beginning of this article,
Crabbe was by nature gentleman. This
it was which made him so welcome among
those who received their title as such, not
only by virtue of merit, but by birth
In Crabbe was seen an independence very
far removed from that coarse obtrusive-
ness, which made Burns an object of for.
bearance among the great-but an indie.
pendence which showed itself by paying
due respect and courtesy to those from
whom Crabbe received ia courtesy
which had nothing cringing in it, because
it gave only what it received. In Crabbe,
too, was seen none of that false shame of
birth, or that still falser boasting of it,
which betrays the uneasiness by which
some vulgar people try to hide their sense
of low origin. He felt within him the
spirit of gentleman, and he allowed it
to actuate his manners and appearance.
He gave no loose rein to envy and jeal-
ousy and malice, but pursued "the even
tenor of way" feeling that no disgrace or
ridicule can attach itself to any man who
hearkens always to the voice of his better
nature; and that o gentleman is one,
"Who wounds no breast with jeer or jest, yet
bears no honey'd tongue;
He's social with the gray-haired one and merry
with the young;
He gravely shares the council speech, joins the
rustic game,
And shines as NATURES gentleman, in every flac.
the same.
In the seventy-eighth year of his age,
Crabbe, after expressing his hope in God,
and in the presence of his two sons, both
priests of the Church, breathed his last,
leaving behind him an enviable reputation
for all that makes life valuable, and re-
moves from death its sting. His parish
oners erected over his remains monu-
ment, representing him with his eyes fixed
upon the Bible, and two angels waiting to
bear him to Heaven.
Of his poetry l have space only to take
cursory view. The smoothness of his
verse reminds us of Pope, but while tho
latter merely embodied abstract truths,
Crabbe has invested the actual truths Of
life in series of tales, whose interest is
only equalled by their beauty. AS
whole, "The Parish Register is perhaps
the best specimen of the poets genius
1t has intersperscd with its stories many
"wise truths and moderninstances,' which
teach a useful lesson. Who ever painted
rustic beauty in more vivid colors than
Crabbe, in these lines
1.-TWO summers since, saw at Lammas Fair
The sweetest flower that ever blossomed there,
When Phoebe Dawson gaily crossed the green,
In haste to see and happy to be seen;
Her air, her manners, all who saw admired;
Courteous, though coy, and gentle, though re-
tired;
A native skill her simple robes expressed,
AS with untutored elegance she dressed"
"The Borough is another most inter.
esting poem. Like all of his poems, it is
laid among the poor, WHO he most truth
fully represents as not whit better in
morals and manners than tho rich. In
this Crabbc differs from most poets, who
have loved to represent virtue as an irya-
riable accompaniment of poverty; where
as Crabbe, who speaks from practical
knowledge, shows US in the servant the
very same vices as in the master-teaoh-
ing that no station is exempt from trial,
or removed above temptation.
"Tales of the Hall" consist of num-
Der of stories collected together and pub
lished under this general head. We have
not time to review them, nor is it neces-
sary for if my reader has not conceived
already taste for these poems, any addi-
tional words Of mine could not create