The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-02-21
baseball or achieve fame at the ath-
letic feats at Stockholm.

letic feats at Stockholm.
William Collins, who lived at the
time of Johnson, and whom that be-
nevolent savage" befriended, was a
most exquisite but Inflated bard His
poetry is rich in imagery and beauti-
! full in description. His history is
brief and painful. He sunk under dis
appointment. became indOlent and dis
sipated, and the fine promise of his
/ youth melted away under baneful and
depressing influence. and when at lib
erty he would wander among the
aisles and cloisters of the Chichester
/ cathedral accompanying the music
with loud sobs and groans.
/ In the age of Johnson, or just an
tecedent to it, Alexander Pope was
the one man of letters who had acquir-
ed by his pen what was then consid-
| cred as a handsome fortune, and lived
/ or a footing with the mobiles and min
t listers of state, yet his life was en-
!. FILTERED by i'll health and his form
was ill-shapen. 1t was said TO have
resembIed a mark Of this descrip-
ton.
Dryden, in his day, occupied the
front seat on the stage OF literature,
and posterity has assigned to him the
first place in the second rank OF po-
cts. bit he was disturbed by the carp
ing Of critics OF smaller measure. and
he permitted his lie TO be made mis-
cradle BY them
William Shenstone enjoyed a fleet
ing popularity but died in solitude.
OF all the poets, perhaps, the lie Of
Thomas Chatterton is the most pitiful
He was the most precocious Of ali the
poets. At the age Of eleven he com
posed a hymn thar would have stamp
ed him a poet Of q high order If he
had reached his maturity when it was
written. The success Of McPherson's
"Ossian," no doubt, prompted the
gifted boy to commit forgeries by
palming of some Of his own wonder
full literary productions as ancient
writings that he had discovered dat
ing back to d remote period; the
fraud was eventually detected, and he
fell into such a sta,e eli remorse that
he killed himself before he had reach
ed his 21st year.
William Falconer. the son of a poor
barber lived the life of a romance.
His story of a "Shipwreck" brought
him into instant fame 1t is infinitely
and singularly described because he
was a witness to it's violence, and, go
ing to sea again, persisted in a second
shipwreck, and no 'tuneful Arion"
was left to commemorate the calam-
ity.
Excepting Marlowe, Chambers says
that no English author of reputation
was more unhappy in his life and end
than poor Charles Churchill. He dis
honored his canonicals and died a vo-
luptuary.
Cowper was one of the sweetest of
English poets. Descended from dis
tinguished ancestry he was modest to
sensitiveness. Given a lucrative posi-
ton the dread of appearing before
the house of lords plunged him into
the deepest distress and misery. Aft
err brooding over many fancied ills he
contemplated suicide. His mind was
gradually restored to him and he de-
cided to withdraw entirely from socie-
ty and the world. He formed an in
timacy with Rev. Morley Unwin and
was adopted as one of the family, and
after eight years, when Unwin died,
widow, who watched over him with
all the patience and devotion of a
mother. His biographer says that to
the latest generation the name of
Mary Unwin will be united with that
of Cowper, partaker of his fame and
his sad decline. He beautified the
Ad1So UlSSS OuI was dl " dy uduIlLSu
with the fear of insanity He is the |
author of the fine expression select !
ed by this paper as a motto: The
newspaper-what is it but map of
busy life, its fluctuations and vast con-
Germs" No one can read the life of
Cowper without being moved to path !
os and sympathy.
The life of Robert Southey also ex-
cites our sympathy and pity. He was
a very voluminous writer Poet, !,
scholar antiquarian, critic, historian.
He is said to have written more than
Scott. But his intellect became |
clouded in his later years, and he
spent many weary weeks and months
among his dearly priced books in his !
library, taking them down, one after !
another mAabaDica1Iv This 0OD+:r