author), are executed with great spirit) elegance, and taste; and some of them might pass for portions of Rogers' Italy. Those pieces of least merit, and least worthy of their amiable, refined, and kindly-disposed author, are satires, some of which have an air of malignant virulence about them. Among the miscellaneous poems, there is one entitled "Music," singularly beautiful, from which I venture to extract two stanzas, the first and last, to show what talent this man possessed, who was one of Lady Blessington's especial favourites. "Awake! thou harp with music stored, Awake! and let me feel thy power; The thronging notes, in ceaseless shower! Upfloating forms of ev'ry hue And I will dream the vision's true. "lis soft as evening's dewy sigh, Sweeter than summer's balmiest breath, And seem to touch the verge of death. To cross that dark and dreaded sea! To wake, and—Nea! dwell with thee." The detached poems of this gentleman lead one to form an opinion of his talents of a very favourable kind. No separate work of his, I believe, exists. He was a man of refined literary tastes and acquirements, and was held in high estimation by eminent literary people, for his high character and his amiable disposition. FROM JOHN KENYON, ESQ., TO LADY BLESSINGTON. "38, Rue de Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris, "June 15, 1840. "Dear Madam, "You will wonder at this note from one who ought in all modesty to conclude that you have, hy this time, forgotten him. But if you happen to have thought of me at all, I trust you will have inferred that my absence from Gore House has been caused by absence from London. It will be one of my duties, on my return home, to shew, as far as an early call may do so, that I have not forgotten all your obliging attentions. My present object is to offer a few stanzas to you, a pepper-corn offering, which perhaps I am, after all, not justified in doing; for, probably, the Muses, like other ladies, should wait till they are asked, and to inquire whether you can make any use of them, such as they are, for your forthcoming annual. I have endeavoured to condense into them the associations which grow out of Italy. Who can judge better than you can, whether I have succeeded well or ill? But do not, I beg of you, think yourself bound to accept my offering. I shall .not turn vindictive, like Cain, though your discretion may refuse it. I shall still continue to think the verses excellent verses, and only conceit that they do not happen to suit your particular views for this year's book, and you will have too much courtesy and kindness to clear away my delusion. "Should you, however, care to make use of them, may I be allowed to request that they may be printed as I send them Is this modesty or vanity 1 Whatever casuists or motive-mongert may choose to decide, I hold for the former. The robust wings of the eagle will bear handling: the butterfly's are ruined, touch 'em ever so lightly. "Very truly yours, "John Kenyon." LETTER FROM THOMAS CAMPBELL TO LADY BLESSINGTON. "May 19, 1832. "Sussex Chambers, Duke Street, "St. James's Square. "Dear Madam, "I have no engagements for a month to come, excepting for Monday and Thursday next. On Monday, I have a very long-standing and particular engagement, otherwise I should break it with no scruple, to accept your Ladyship's invitation. How unfortunate it is for me to have been engaged. I must not be too pathetic over my misfortune, for that might seem to be saying, 'I pray you ask me some other day,' and that would be very saucy, though it would be very sincere. "But it cannot be forwardness to thank you most gratefully for speaking so kindly of my works. "With great respect, "I remain, "Thomas Campbell." 222 CHAPTER IX. W. H. AINSWORTH, ESQ. The author of "Rookwood," "Crichton," "Jack Sheppard," "The Tower of London," " Guy Fawkes," "Old Saint Paul's," "The Miser's Daughter," "Windsor Castle," Sec. &c. &c. was well known to Lady Blessington, and duly appreciated by her. Mr. Ainsworth could hardly fail to be a favourite at Gore House—a man of considerable talents, having the art of pleasing in social circles, no less than in his works. A successful author in a line of imaginative literature he has made his own—blending romance and history in a brilliant melodramatic manner, evincing much research and graphic power in dealing with historical incidents, and giving to his works not only a romantic interest that thrills his readers, but a life-like air and an aspect of genuine antiquarianism. William Harrison Ainsworth, descended from a respectable family of Tottington, in Lancashire, was born at Manchester, in 1805. His father, Thomas Ainsworth, a solicitor in extensive practice in Manchester, was born in 1778, married in 1802, a daughter of the Rev. Ralph Harrison (an eminent preacher, a scholar, and, strange to say, an opulent man); died in 1824, leaving issue two sons—1. W. Harrison; 2. Thomas Gilbert Ainsworth. The former, on the death of his mother, in 1842, succeeded to some landed property, and now of Spotland and Beech Hill, county Lancaster, and Kensal Manor House, Harrow Road,figures where itisnotthelotof many distinguished litterateurs to flourish, in the list of Burke's "Landed Gentry." At a very early age he was placed at the Free Grammar School, in Manchester, where he soon distinguished himself in classics, and in translating and reciting remarkable passages from the Greek and Roman poets and orators. He was removed from this school (being designed to be the successor of his father), and placed as a clerk with Mr. Alexander Kay, a rising Manchester solicitor. Theatricals and pyrotechnical recreations had more charms for young Ainsworth than the arena of conveyancing. The Law lost another scion of a goodly legal stock—the eldest son of a prosperous solicitor; and Literature gained another victory over the profession of an attorney—in securing for her service another incipient solicitor, greatly addicted to her cause and pursuits. His literary career commenced even before he left school, where he commenced various sketches, translations, dramatic scenes, and entire pieces, to a weekly literary journal of Manchester, " The Iris;" and subsequently to another small theatrical journal, entitled "The Boeotian," set up principally for the publication of his writings. He contributed regularly, before he was nineteen, to several well-known periodicals—to "The London Magazine," " The Edinburgh Magazine," edited by Constable, &c. On the death of his father he came to London, to finish his term with Mr. Phillips of the Inner Temple; but Love and Literature left poor Law in the shade and gloom of her old sanctuary in Fleet Street. He made the acquaintance of Mr. Ebers, of Bond Street, the eminent bookseller, then connected with the management of the Opera House. He published a novel, entitled " Sir John Chiverton;" and having wooed the Muses with some success, he married the youngest daughter of their humble servant in Bond Street, Mr. Ebers, in 1826. In 1828 he commenced business as a publisher, and shortly afterwards abandoned that hazardous |