SHAKSPEARE'S WOMEN. BEYOND me and above me, far away From colder poets lies a land ElysianThe haunted land where Shakspeare's ladies stray Through shadowy groves and golden glades of vision; And there I wander oft, as poets may, Cooling the fever of a hot ambition, 'Mong ghostly shades of palaces divine, And pray at Shakspeare's soul as at a shrine? Fair are those ladies all, some pure as foam, And sadder some than earthly ladies are; From Juliet, calm and beautiful as home, Whose love was whiter than the morning star, To Egypt, when the rebel lord of Rome Lolled at her knee and watched the world from far I dream in this delicious land, where Song And Fancy weeps beside them, and above Oh, let me, dreaming on in this sweet place, Draw near to Shakspeare's soul with reverent eyes, Let me dream on, forgetting time and space, Where smiles are conjured on the stately face, Where each immortal lady still prolongs Hard-visaged Labor recommending leisure, Let me thus climb to fairy heights and steal Soft commune with the shapes all poets treas ure; Wrapt up in luscious life from head to heel, Swimming from trance to trance of speechless pleasure, And now and then, not erring, dream of bliss Whose brimful soul runs over in a kiss! -All the Year Round. THE GOLDEN YEAR. CoME, sunny looks, that in my memory throng; bay, Come once more, or wild grasses will intrude, And clasp their hands across the narrow way; Come, for the place is fair as land of dream, And through the rushes, winds hum mournfully, As if just moved in slumber, and the stream Still struggles through its cresses to the sea. 'Tis vain to call; I once the strain have heard, That lacked no note to make the tune complete, Once, wakened by the touch of some kind word, I found a garden fair, with flowers sweet; There, plucking fruits from many a drooping bough, I stayed, untroubled by foreboding doubt; Once have I passed the golden year, and now I see it far back, like a star going out. The daisies of the golden year are dead, Its sunsets will not touch the west again, Are gone, with waters of the golden year Short Portrait of Queen Anne, 809. The Envelope Business, 812. Genealogy of the Prince of Wales, 824. Curious Nest Building, 824. Death of Marlborough, 803. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY LITTELL, SON, & CO., BOSTON. For Six Dollars a year, in advance, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually for warded free of postage. Complete sets of the First Series, in thirty-six volumes, and of the Second Series, in twenty volumes, handsomely bound, packed in neat boxes, and delivered in all the principal cities, free of expense of freight, are for sale at two dollars a volume. ANY VOLUME may be had separately, at two dollars, bound, or a dollar and a half in numbers. ANY NUMBER may be had for 13 cents; and it is well worth while for subscribers or purchasers to complete any broken volumes they may have, and thus greatly enhance their value. FAIRY LORE. GLAD were the children when their glowing faces Gathered about us in the winter night, And now, with gleesome hearts in verdant places, We see them leaping in the summer light; For they remember yet the tales we told them snow. But now the young and fresh imagination Finds traces of their presence everywhere, Quaint little eyes from grassy nooks are peering; Each dewy leaf is rich in magic lore: The foam-bells, down the merry brooklet steer ing, Are fairy-freighted to some happier shore. Stern theorists, with wisdom overreaching The aim of wisdom, in your precepts cold, And with a painful stress of callous teaching, That withers the young heart into the old, What is the gain if all their flowers were perished, Their vision-fields forever shorn and bare, The mirror shattered that their young faith cherished, Showing the face of things so very fair? Time hath enough of ills to undeceive them, And cares will crowd where dreams have dwelt before; Oh, therefore, while the heart is trusting, leave them Their happy childhood and their fairy lore! From The Gem. LOVE'S REPROACH.-A RUSTIC PLAINT. BY JAMES KENNEY, ESQ. DEAR Tom, my brave, free-hearted lad, To me, they say, your thoughts incline, On that sound heart and manly frame How oft when I was sick, or sad With some remembered folly, Last Monday, at the cricket-match, Whate'er of ours you chance to seek, I bring with blushes on my cheek, When Jasper Wild, beside the brook, I oft recall that lion-look That quelled the savage coward. My friends, 'tis true, are well to do, And yours are poor and friendless; Ah, no! for they are rich in you, Their happiness is endless. You never let them shed a tear, Save that on you they weigh so; There's one might bring you better cheer; Tom, if you love me, say so. My uncle's legacy is all' For you, Tom, when you choose it; Or better trained to use it. From The Athenæum. On the Relations of Alexander Pope with the Duchess of Marlborough and the Duchess of Buckinghamshire; and on the Character and Characteristics of Atossa. IN 1854 we took advantage of a lull in the publishing world, and ventured by way of experiment, to try our critical skill on an advertisement-the announcement of a forthcoming edition of Pope's Works to be edited by John Wilson Croker. That edition, so long expected, has been delayed, almost beyond hope, by the death of the editor. We are pleased now to hear that it will certainly be amongst the issues of the coming season. Delay, however, has not been without its advantages the announcement in 1854 of "one hundred and fifty unpublished letters" has enlarged its golden promise, and the last number of the Quarterly speaks of "more than three hundred unpublished letters." In other respects, too, good has resulted from delay. Mr. Carruthers has liberally declared that the publication of the papers in the Athenæum constituted "an era in Pope history." We are willing to believe that they did good service, pioneer fashion. But some questions then raised have not yet been decided; and amongst them one seriously affecting the moral character of the poet-did he, or did he not, receive a thousand pounds from the Duchess of Marlborough, to suppress the character of Atossa? We think it well therefore to revert to this subject before the new edition is issued. As a starting-point in our inquiry, we will consider the personal relations of the several parties. Pope for many years belonged to the same for his friendly assistance in helping my son "I have wrote to Lord Trevor, who has ap-, Again : "This is first to tell you that I hope you found your mother in very good health, and made your peace with the old woman for staying abroad so long. She will probably describe you by the Gadder as she did Mr. Compton by the Proser. We do not mean to enter again on the evidence; that has been fully considered. We heretofore proved that the story was first published anonymously, and after the established fashion, with an "it is said." We proved, as we thought, that Warton and Walpole merely re-echoed the story with such" circumstantialities as time adds as a matter of course; and that Mr. Rose's pencilling was a mere indication of what might have been referred to-whether fact "I know 'tis unnecessary, but I desire you to or falsehood. We propose on this occasion to show, not merely that the anecdote is un- being at present not well in my favor, except to say nothing of what you know of Mr. Sheffield's true, but that it could not be true, and that my Lord Bathurst, in case he mentions it, bethe character of Atossa was not meant for cause I have many reasons to have the particuthe Duchess of Marlborough at all, but for lar circumstances as little spoke on as possible, the Duchess of Buckinghamshire. This is and not the man at all, at least for some time. a new light altogether-new to us as to others-I am ever, Sr. yr. most humble servt.' -a result of that spirit of doubt and consequent research which have done more, in the last ten years, to clear up the Pope history and mystery than all the trusting labors of editors in the preceding century. Some of the letters to which we shall have occasion "The Duchess of Buckingham is at Leigh's. to refer are yet in manuscript; but they are has signed. You will rejoice, I know, with me The writings to my mother and me she now all in the possession of Mr. Murray, and that what you so warmly solicited and contribwill therefore appear in the forthcoming edi-uted to, for my future ease is accomplished. If tion of Pope's Works. I live these hundred years I shall never fancy, "K. B." These friendly relations continued up to : even in my jealous old age, that I live too long upon you and her. And if I live but one year it would better please me to think an obelisque might be added to your garden, etc." Pope and the duchess, as we shall show, soon after quarrelled, so that the flattering "Character of Katherine late Duchess of Buckinghamshire and Normanby," published in 1746 as "By the late Mr. Pope," must have been written about or before this time. Whether really written by Pope, or compiled, as he said, from the manuscript of the duchess, there is, we think, internal evidence that it was written many years before her death. Pope distinctly says so in his letter to Moyser. It must, therefore, have been subsequently adapted to circumstances, for reference is therein made to the loss of "all her children," which was not true until after the 31st of October, 1735, when her son Edmund died, and it concludes with an account of the death of the duchess herself. to be represented or taken in a light any way requires being set right." (Coxe's Walpole, iii126.) The following is the account of Pope's quarrel with the duchess, which he whispered in a letter to Moyser, as if in anticipation of the publication of the "Character," and of its being attributed to him. This letter Warburton fortunately stumbled on, when, after Pope's death, the "Character" was published and was so attributed : "There was another Character written of Her Grace by herself (with what help I know not), me, by all the adjurations of friendship, to give but she shewed it me in her blots, and pressed her my sincere opinion of it. I acted honestly and did so. She seemed to take it patiently, and upon many exceptions which I made, engaged me to take the whole, and to select out of it just as much as I judged might stand and return her the copy. I did so. Immediately she picked a quarrel with me, and we never saw each other in five or six years." The cause of quarrel is a mystery; but the We have now clear evidence not only of date, within moderate limits, it is not diffi- the quarrel, but that it took place in or about cult to determine. On the 9th of July July, 1729. This brings us to, and helps to [1732] Pope thus wrote to Lord Bathurst:-explain, an incident in Pope's life not known "There is one woman at least that I think to his biographers. you will never run after, of whom the town rings with a hundred stories, why she run, and whither she is run. Her sober friends are sorry for her, and truly so am I, whom she cut off from the number of them three years ago. She has dealt as mysteriously with you as with me formerly; both which are proofs that we are both less mad than is requisite for her to think quite well of us." In 1729-30, Edward Caryll married the daughter of Pope's friend and neighbor, Mr. Pigot; and the following is an extract from a letter of Pope of the 12th of February, in which he sent his congratulations to Caryll's father: This "one woman" was, beyond all doubt, the Duchess of Buckinghamshire, who thought it necessary, in consequence of the gossip with which the town rang, to inform the minister, Sir Robert Walpole, why and whither she had run, which she did on the 6th of June, 1732, by a letter from Boulogne: "I could not see Mr. Pigot as yet; but this day I have received from him, by the post, the letter you mentioned as having been given to you to deliver into my own hands. The contents desire you fairly to tell me, who gave it you; of that letter are so extraordinary that I must and if, instead of your giving it to Mr. Pigot, he did not give it to you.' On the 10th of May Pope again adverts to the subject: "I left England, sir, with no other precipita"A very odd adventure has lately befallen me, tion than was occasioned by my having some ac-in consequence of the letter you sent me enclosed counts to state and pass with Mr. Arthbornott.", She then informs him that she had been taken ill at Boulogne,—and adds— "This has given me the lucky opportunity of hearing, something quick, the silly reports somehow spread concerning a thing done by everybody at their pleasure,-I mean taking a journey to Paris." She begs Walpole to take notice of her explanation to the queen or not, as he shall decide, "in case any of these nonsensical storys, or any others, have reached her ears, or whether my coming away in the manner I did has happened to Mr. Pigot which contained a note for £100, and it gives me a great curiosity to know what person put it into your hands. I soon found out the original plotter, but am at a loss for the instruments made use of, which this may give me some light into." On the 16th of June Pope continues his questioning :— "I can't help telling you, as well as I love you, that I am ready to take it ill (and the more ill the more I love you) your silence and evasion of my question, who it was that put into your hands the letter which contained a Bank Bill for £100? I found out, as I told you, the original plotter, and returned the bribe back, as an honest man ought, with the contempt it deserved, by |