The poetical works of Henry Kirke White

Contents

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Memoir of Henry Kirke White ix

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

Part II 47 The Christiad 56

Lines written on a Survey of the Heavens 71

Lines supposed to be spoken by a Lover at the Grave

of his Mistress 73

My Study 75

Description of a Summer's Eve 79

-Lines — "Go to the raging sea, and say, 'Be still !'"... 81

Written in the Prospect of Death 83

Verses — " When pride and envy, and the scorn" 85

Fragment — " Oh ! thou most fatal of Pandora's train " 86 " Loud rage the winds without. — The wintry cloud" 87

To a Friend in Distress. .. .<.... 88

Christmas Day 90

Nelsoni Mors 92

Epigram on Robert Bloomfield 94

Elegy occasioned by the Death of Mr. Gill, who was

drowned in the River Trent, while bathing 94

Inscription for a Monument to the Memory of Cowper 95

'I'm pleased, and yet I'm sad" 96

IV CONTENTS.

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Solitude 98

" If far from me the Fates remove" 99

" Fanny ! upon thy breast I may not lie ! " 99

Fragments — " Saw'st thou that light? exclaim'd the

youth, and paused:" 100

" The pious man" 101

" Lo ! on the eastern summit, clad in gray " 101 " There was a little bird upon that pile;".... 101

" O pale art thou, my lamp, and faint" 102

" O give me music — for my soul doth faint;" 103

" And must thou go, and must we part" 103

" Ah ! who can say, however fair his view," 104 " Hush'd is the lyre — the hand that swept" 104 " When high romance o'er every wood and

stream" 105

" Once more, and yet once more," 105

Fragment of an Eccentric Drama 106

To a Friend 112

Lines on reading the Poems of War ton 114

Fragment — " The western gale," 115

Commencement of a Poem on Despair 118

The Eve of Death 120

Thanatos 121

Athanatos « 123

Music 124

On being confined to School one pleasant Morning in

Spring 126

To Contemplation 127

My own Character 130

Lines written in Wilford Churchyard 1 32

Verses — " Thou base repiner at another's joy/' 135

Lines — " Yes, my stray steps have wander'd, wander'd

The Prostitute 139

CONTENTS.

ODES.

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To my Lyre 141

To an Early Primrose 143

Ode, addressed to H. Fuseli, Esq. R.A 144

To the Earl of Carlisle, K.G 147

To Contemplation 150

To the Genius of Romance 156

To Midnight 157

To Thought 158

Genius 160

Fragment of an Ode to the Moon 163

To the Muse , 165

To Love ' 166

On Whit-Monday 167

To the Wind, at Midnight 169

To the Harvest Moon 169

To the Herb Rosemary 172

To the Morning 173

On Disappointment 176

On the Death of Dermody the Poet 179

SONNETS.

To the River Trent 181

Sonnet — " Give me a cottage on some Cambrian wild," 181 Sonnet supposed to have been addressed by a female

Lunatic to a Lady 182

Sonnet supposed to be written by the unhappy Poet

Dermody in a Storm 183

The Winter Traveller 183

Sonnet — u Ye whose aspirings court the muse of lays," 184 Recantatory, in Reply to the foregoing elegant Admonition 185

On hearing the Sounds of an iEolian Harp 186

Sonnet — " What art thou, Mighty One ! and where thy seat?" 186

VI CONTENTS.

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To Capel Lofft, Esq 187

To the Moon 188

Written at the Grave of a Friend , 188

To Misfortune 189

Sonnet — " As thus oppress'd with many a heavy care," 190

To April 190

Sonnet — " Ye unseen spirits, whose wild melodies,"... 191

To a Taper 192

To my Mother 192

Sonnet — "Yes, 'twill be over soon. This sickly dream" 193

To Consumption 193

Sonnet — " Thy judgments, Lord, are just;" 194

Sonnet — " When I sit musing on the chequer'd past " . 195 Sonnet — " Sweet to the gay of heart is Summer's smile " 19-5 Sonnet — u Quick o'er the wintry waste dart fiery shafts" 1 96

BALLADS, SONGS, AND HYMNS.

Gondoline 197

A Ballad — '* Be hush'd, be hush'd, ye bitter winds,"... 209 The Lullaby of a Female Convict to her Child, the

Night previous to Execution 210

The Savoyard's Return 211

A Pastoral Song 212

Melody — " Yes, once more that dying strain" 213

Additional Stanza to a Song by Waller 214

The Wandering boy 215

Canzonet — " Maiden ! wrap thy mantle round thee"... 216

Song — "Softly, softly blow, ye breezes," 217

The Shipwrecked Solitary's Song to the Night 219

The Wonderful Juggler 221

Hymn — " Awake, sweet harp of Judah, wake" 224

A Hymn for Family Worship 825

The Star of Bethlehem 226

Hymn — " O Lord, my God, in mercy turn" 227

CONTENTS.

TRIBUTARY VERSES.

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Eulogy on Henry Kirke White, by Lord Byron 229

Sonnet on Henry Kirke White, by Capel Lofft 230

Sonnet occasioned by the Second of H. K. White, by

the same 231

Written in the Homer of Mr. H. K. White, by the same 232 To the Memory of H. K. White, by the Rev. W. B.

Collyer, A.M 233

Sonnet to H. K. White, on his Poems, by Arthur Owen,

Esq 235

Sonnet, on seeing another written to H. K. White, by

the same 236

Reflections on Reading the Life of the late H. K. White,

by William Holloway 237

On the Death of Henry Kirke White, by T. Park 239

Lines on the Death of Henry Kirke White, by the Rev.

J. Plumptre 239

To Henry Kirke White, by H. Welker 240

Verses occasioned by the Death of H. K. White, by

Josiah Conder 241

On Reading H. K. White's Poem on Solitude, by the

same 243

Ode on the late Henry Kirke White, by Juvenis 244

Sonnet in Memory of Henry Kirke White, by J. G. ... 245

Lines on the Death of Henry Kirke W^hite 246

Sonnet to H. K. White, on his Poems, by G.L. C. ...... 24?

To the Memory of Henry Kirke White, by a Lady .... 248

Stanzas supposed to have been written at the Grave of

Henry Kirke White, by a Lady 251

MEMOIR OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE.

BY SIR HARRIS NICOLAS.

Thine, Henry, is a deathless name on earth,

Thine amaranthine wreaths, new pluck'd in Heaven !

By what aspiring child of mortal birth

Could more he ask'd, to whom might more be given?

TOWNSEND.

It has been said that the contrasts of light and shade are as necessary to biography as to painting? and that the character which is radiant with genius and virtue requires to be relieved by more common and opposite qualities. Though this may be true as a principle, there are many exceptions ; and the life of Henry Kirke White, whose merits were unalloyed by a single vice, is one of the most memorable. The history of his short and melancholy career, by Mr. Southey, is extremely popular ; and when it is remembered that its author is one of the most distinguished of living writers, that as a biographer he is unrivalled, and that he had access to all the materials which exist, it would be as vain to

b.

X MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

expect from the present Memoir any new facts, as it would be absurd to hope that it will be more worthy of attention than the imperishable monument which his generous friend has erected to his memory.

There is, however, nothing inconsistent with this admission, in presuming that a Life of the Poet might be written almost as interesting as the one alluded to, and without the writer assuming to himself any unusual sagacity. As Mr. South ey's narrative is prefixed to a collection of all Kirke White's remains, in prose as well as in verse, his letters are inserted as part of his works, instead of extracts from them being introduced into the Memoir. This volume will, on the contrary, be confined to his Poems ; and such parts of his letters as describe his situation and feelings at particular periods will be introduced into the account of his life. Indeed, so frequent are the allusions to himself in those letters as well as in his poems, that he may be almost considered an autobiographer ; and the writer who substitutes his own cold and lifeless sketch for the glowing and animated portrait which these memorials of genius afford, must either be deficient in skill, or be under the dominion of overweening vanity.

Few who have risen to eminence were, on the paternal side at least, of humbler origin than Henry Kirke White. His father, John White, was a butcher at Nottingham ; but his mother, who

MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XI

bore the illustrious name of Neville, is said to have belonged to a respectable family in Staffordshire. He was born at Nottingham on the 21st of March, 1785 ; and in his earliest years indications were observed of the genius for which he was afterwards distinguished. In his poem " Childhood," he has graphically described the little school where, between the age of three and five, he

«' enter'd, though with toil and pain, The low vestibule of learning's fane."

The venerable dame by whom he was * inured to alphabetic toils/'

and whose worth he gratefully commemorates, had the discernment to perceive her charge's talents, and even foretold his future celebrity :

" And, as she gave my diligence its praise, Taik'd of the honours of my future days."

If he did not deceive himself, it was at this period that his imagination became susceptible of poetic associations. Speaking of the eagerness with which he left the usual sports of children to listen to tales of imaginary woe, and of the effect which they produced, he says,

" Beloved moment ! then 'twas first I caught

The first foundation of romantic thought ;

Then first I shed bold Fancy's thrilling tear,

Then first that Poesy charm'd mine infant ear.

Soon stored with much of legendary lore,

The sports of childhood charm'd my soul no more ;

Xll MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

Far from the scene of gaiety and noise,

Far, far from turbulent and empty joys,

I hied me to the thick o'erarching shade,

And there, on mossy carpet, listless laid;

While at my feet the rippling runnel ran,

The days of wild romance antique I'd scan;

Soar on the wings of fancy through the air,

To realms of light, and pierce the radiance there."

The peculiar disposition of his mind, having thus early displayed itself, every day added to its force. Study and abstraction were his greatest pleasures, and a love of reading became his predominant passion. " I could fancy," said his eldest sister, " I see him in his little chair with a large book upon his knee, and my mother calling, ' Henry, my love, come to dinner,' which was repeated so often without being regarded, that she was obliged to change the tone of her voice before she could rouse him/'

At the age of six he was placed under the care of the Rev. John Blanchard, who kept the best school in Nottingham, where he learnt writing, arithmetic, and French ; and he continued there for several years. During that time two facts are related of him which prove the precocity of his talents. When about seven, he was accustomed to go secretly into his father's kitchen and teach the servant to read and write ; and he composed a tale of a Swiss emigrant, which he gave her, being too diffident to show it to his mother. In his eleventh year he wrote a separate theme for each of the twelve or fourteen boys in his class ; and the excel-

MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. Xlll

lence of the various pieces obtained his master's applause.

Henry was destined for his father's trade, and the efforts of his mother to change that intention were for some time fruitless. Even while he was at school, one day in every week, and his leisure hours on the others, were employed in carrying meat to his father's customers ; but a dispute between his father and his master having caused him to be removed from school, one of the ushers, from malice or ignorance, told his mother that it was impossible to make her son do any thing. The person who reported so unfavourably of his abilities, little knew that he had then given ample evidence of his talents, in some poetical satires which his treatment at school had provoked, but which he afterwards destroyed.

Soon after he quitted Mr. Blanchard's school he was intrusted to Mr. Shipley, who discovered his pupil's abilities, and relieved his friends' uneasiness on the subject. His earliest production that has been preserved was written in his thirteenth year, " On being confined to School one pleasant Morning in Spring," in which a schoolboy's love of liberty, and his envy of the freedom of a neighbouring wren, are expressed with plaintive simplicity.

About this time a slight improvement took place in his situation. His mother, to whom he was indebted for all the happiness of his childhood, opened a day school, and, as it abstracted her from the

XIV MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

groveling cares of a butcher's shop, his home was made much more comfortable ; and, instead of being confined to his father's business, he was placed in a stocking loom, with the view of bringing him up to the trade of a hosier, the poverty of his family still precluding the hope of a profession.

It may easily be believed that this occupation ill agreed w r ith the aspirations of his mind. From his mother he had few secrets, and in her ear he breathed his disgust and unhappiness. " He could not bear," he said, " the idea of spending some years of his life in shining and folding up stockings ;" he wanted " something to occupy his brain, and he should be wretched if he continued longer at this trade, or indeed in any thing, except one of the learned professions." For a year these remonstrances were ineffectual ; but no persuasions, even when urged with maternal tenderness, could reconcile him to his lot. He sought for consolation with the Muses, and wrote an " Address to Contemplation," in which he describes his feel-

" Why along The dusky track of commerce should I toil, When, with an easy competence content, I can alone be happy ; where, with thee, I may enjoy the loveliness of Nature, And loose the wings of fancy ! Thus alone Can I partake of happiness on earth; And to be happy here is man's chief end, For to be happy he must needs be good."

MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XV

There are few obstacles that perseverance will not overcome ; and penury and a parent's obstinacywere both surmounted by Kirke White's importunity. Finding it useless to chain him longer to the hosier's loom, he was placed in the office of Messrs. Coldham and Enfield, Town Clerk and attorneys of Nottingham, sometime in May, 1799, when he was in his fifteenth year; but as a premium could not be given with him, it was agreed that he should serve two years before he was articled. A few months after he entered upon his new employment, he began a correspondence with his brother, Mr. Neville White, who was then a medical student in London ; and in a letter dated in September, 1799, he thus spoke of his situation and prospects :

" It is now nearly four months since I entered into Mr. Coldham's office ; and it is with pleasure I can assure you, that I never yet found any thing disagreeable, but, on the contrary, every thing I do seems a pleasure to me, and for a very obvious reason, — it is a business which I like —a business which I chose before all others ; and I have two good-tempered, easy masters, but who will, nevertheless, see that their business is done in a neat and proper manner*" — " A man that understands the law is sure to have business ; and in case I have no thoughts, in case, that is, that I do not aspire to hold the honourable place of a barrister, I shall feel sure of gaining a genteel livelihood at the business to which I am articled."

XVI MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

At the suggestion of his employers, he devoted the greater part of his leisure to Latin ; and, though he was but slightly assisted, he was able in ten months to read Horace with tolerable facility, and had made some progress in Greek. Having but little time for these pursuits, he accustomed himself to decline the Greek nouns and verbs during his walks to and from the office, and he thereby acquired a habit of studying while walking, that never deserted him. The account which Mr. Southey has given of his application, and of the success that attended it, is astonishing. Though living with his family, he nearly estranged himself from their society. At meals, and during the evenings, a book was constantly in his hands ; and as he refused to sup with them, to prevent any loss of time, his meal was sent to him in his little apartment. Law, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, chemistry, astronomy, electricity, drawing, music, and mechanics, by turns engaged his attention ; and though his acquirements in some of those studies were very superficial, his proficiency in many of them was far from contemptible. His papers on law evince so much industry, that had that subject alone occupied his leisure hours, his diligence would have been commendable. He was a tolerable Italian scholar, and in the classics he afterwards attained reputation ; but of the sciences and of Spanish and Portuguese, his knowledge was not, it may be inferred, very great. His ear for

MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XV11

music was good, and his passionate attachment to it is placed beyond a doubt by his verses on its effects :

" With her in pensive mood I long to roam At midnight's hour, or evening's calm decline, And thoughtful o'er the falling streamlet's foam In calm Seclusion's hermit-walks recline :"

But he checked his ardour, lest it might interfere with more essential studies ; and his musical attainments were limited to playing pleasingly on the piano, composing the bass to the air at the same time.

Ambition was one of the most powerful feelings of his nature, and it is rare indeed, when it is not the companion of great talents. It developed itself first in spurning trade ; and no sooner did he find himself likely to become an attorney, than he aspired to the bar. But his earliest and strongest passion was for literary distinction ; and he was scarcely removed from the trammels of school, before he sought admission into a literary society, in his native town. His extreme youth rendered him objectionable ; but, after repeated refusals, he at last succeeded. In the association there were six professors, and being, on the first vacancy, appointed to the chair of literature, he soon justified the choice. Taking " genius " as his theme, he addressed the assembly in an extemporaneous lecture of two hours and three-quarters duration, with so much success, that the audience unanimously voted

XV111 MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

him their thanks, declaring that " the society had never heard a better lecture delivered from the chair which he so much honoured." To judge properly of this circumstance, it would be necessary to know of whom the society was composed; but with so flattering a testimony to his abilities, the sanguine boy naturally placed a high estimate on his abilities.

The establishment of a Magazine called the Monthly Preceptor, which proposed prize themes for young persons, afforded Kirke White an opportunity of trying his literary powers. In a letter written in June, 1800, to his brother, speaking of that work he says, " I am noticed as worthy of commendation, and as affording an encouraging prospect of future excellence. You will laugh. I have also turned poet, and have translated an Ode of Horace into English verse." His productions gained him several of the prizes ; and he soon afterwards became a contributor to the Monthly Mirror, his compositions in which attracted the attention of Mr. Hill, the proprietor of the work, and of Mr. Capel Lofft, a gentleman who distinguished himself by his patronage of Bloomfield.

Though on entering an attorney's office the bar was the object of his hopes, a constitutional deafness soon convinced him that he was not adapted for the duties of an advocate ; and his thoughts, from conscientious motives, became directed to the Church.

MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XIX

When about fifteen, his mind was agitated by doubt and anxiety on the most important of all subjects ; and the chaos of opinions which extensive and miscellaneous reading so often produces on ardent and imaginative temperaments, are well described in his little poem entitled, " My own Character/' wherein he represents himself as a prey to the most opposite impressions, and as being in a miserable state of incertitude :

" First I premise it's my honest conviction, That my breast is the chaos of ail contradiction, Religious — deistic — now loyal and warm, Then a dagger-drawn democrat hot for reform;

Now moody and sad, now unthinking and gay, To all points of the compass I veer in a day."

In this sketch there is evidently much truth ; and it affords a striking idea of a plastic and active mind, on which every thing makes an impression, where one idea follows another in such rapid succession, that the former is not so entirely removed, but that some remains of it are amalgamated with its successor. A youth whose intellect is thus tossed in a whirlpool of conflicting speculations, resembles a goodly ship newly launched, which, until properly steadied by ballast, reels from side to side, the sport of every undulation of the waters.

About this time young White's religious feelings were strongly affected by the conversion of his friend, Mr. Almond, whose opinions were previ-

XX MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

ously as unsettled as his own. To escape the raillery with which he expected White would assail him on learning the change in his sentiments, Almond avoided his society ; and when his friend offered to defend his opinions, if Henry would allow the divine originality of the Bible, he exclaimed, " Good God ! you surely regard me in a worse light than I deserve." The discussion that followed, and the perusal of Scott's " Force of Truth," which Almond placed in his hands, induced him to direct his attention seriously to the subject ; but an affecting incident soon afterwards showed how deeply he was then influenced by religious considerations. On the evening before Mr. Almond left Nottingham for Cambridge, he was requested by White to accompany him to his apartment. The moment they entered, Henry burst into tears, declaring that his anguish of mind was insupportable ; and he entreated Almond to kneel and pray for him. Their tears and supplications w 7 ere cordially mingled, and when they were about to separate, White said, " What must I do ? You are the only friend to whom I can apply in this agonizing state, and you are about to leave me. My literary associates are all inclined to deism. I have no one with whom I can communicate."

It is instructive to learn to what circumstance such a person as Kirke White was indebted for the knowledge " which causes not to err." This information occurs in a letter from him to a Mr.

MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XXI

Booth, in August, 1801 ; and it also fixes the date of the happy change that influenced every thought and every action of his future life, which gave the energy of virtue to his exertions, soothed the asperities of a temper naturally impetuous and irritable, and enabled him, at a period when manhood is full of hope and promise, to view the approaches of death with the calmness of a philosopher, and the resignation of a saint.

After thanking Mr. Booth for the present of Jones's work on the Trinity, he thus describes his religious impressions previous to its perusal, and the effect it produced :

" Religious polemics, indeed, have seldom formed a part of my studies ; though whenever I happened accidentally to turn my thoughts to the subject of the Protestant doctrine of the Godhead, and compared it with Arian and Socinian, many doubts interfered, and I even began to think that the more nicely the subject was investigated, the more perplexed it would appear, and was on the point of forming a resolution to go to heaven in my own way, without meddling or involving myself in the inextricable labyrinth of controversial dispute, when I received and perused this excellent treatise, which finally cleared up the mists which my ignorance had conjured around me, and clearly pointed out the real truth."

From the moment he became convinced of the truths of Christianity, all the enthusiasm of his

XX11 MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

nature was kindled. The ministry only, was deemed worthy of his ambition ; and he devoted his thoughts to the sacred office with a zeal that justified a hope of the richest fruits. In a letter to his friend, Mr. Almond, in November, 1803, he says,

" My dear friend, I cannot adequately express what I owe to you on the score of religion. I told Mr. Robinson you were the first instrument of my being brought to think deeply on religious subjects; and I feel more and more every day, that if it had not been for you, I might, most probably, have been now buried in apathy and unconcern. Though I am in a great measure blessed, — I mean blessed with faith, now pretty steadfast, and heavy convictions, I am far from being happy. My sins have been of a dark hue, and manifold: I have made Fame my God, and Ambition my shrine. I have placed all my hopes on the things of this world. I have knelt to Dagon ; I have worshiped the evil creations of my own proud heart, and God had well nigh turned his countenance from me in wrath ; perhaps one step further, and he might have shut me for ever from his rest. I now turn my eyes to Jesus, my saviour, my atonement, with hope and confidence : he will not repulse the im ploring penitent ; his arms are open to all, they are open even to me ; and in return for such a mercy what can I do less than dedicate my whole life tc his service ? My thoughts would fain recur at in-

MEMOIR OF K1RKE WHITE. XXill

tervals to my former delights ; but I am now on my guard to restrain and keep them in. I know now where they ought to concentre, and with the blessing of God, they shall there all tend.

" My next publication of poems will be solely religious. I shall not destroy those of a different nature, which now lie before me ; but they will, most probably, sleep in my desk, until, in the good time of my great Lord and Master, I shall receive my passport from this world of vanity. I am now bent on a higher errand than that of the attainment of poetical fame ; poetry, in future, will be my relaxation, not my employment. — Adieu to literary ambition ! ' You do not aspire to be prime minister,' said Mr. Robinson ; ' you covet a far higher character — to be the humblest among those who minister to their Maker.' "

To the arguments of his friends on the impolicy of quitting a profession to which he had given so much of his time, and on the obstacles to the attainment of his wishes, he was impenetrable. His employers generously offered to cancel his articles as soon as he could show that his resources were likely to support him at the University. Friends arose as they became necessary, and more than one or two persons exerted themselves to promote his views ; but his principal reliance was on the sale of a little volume of Poems, which, at the suggestion of Mr. Capel Lofft, he prepared for the press.

The history of an author's first book is always

XXIV MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE.

interesting, and Kirke White's was attended with unusual incidents. A novice in literature often imagines that it is important his work should be dedicated to some person of rank ; and the Countess of Derby was applied to, who declined, on the ground that she never accepted a compliment of that nature. He then addressed the Duchess of Devonshire ; and a letter, with the manuscript, was left at her house. The difficulty of obtaining access to her Grace proved so great, that more than one letter to his brother was written on the subject, in which he indignantly says, " I am cured of patronage hunting ; as for begging patronage, I am tired to the soul of it, and shall give it up." Permission to inscribe the book to the Duchess was at length granted : the book came out in 1803 ; and a copy was transmitted to her, of which, however, no notice whatever was taken.