Each creature hails, with ravished sight, And God, its Maker, praiseth: Both far, And near, All things living Thanks are giving, Here through earth's wide field adoring. "Then haste, my soul ! thy notes to raise, Nor spare, in thy Redeemer's praise, Thy praise resounds, in grateful songs, Joy rings Glad strings; Voices sounding, Hearts rebounding; Hymns thy fame, O great Creator!" ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE. 1818 THE poetry of the Rt. Rev. Arthur Cleveland Coxe, D.D., LL.D., gives evidence of a superior intellect and careful culture. For each he is greatly indebted to a parentage of peculiar eminence. His father, the Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox, D.D., LL.D., for more than half a century graced the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. A brilliant preacher and a most successful pastor, he labored diligently in his vocation, as a pastor at Mendham, N. J., at New York City, and at Brooklyn, as a Professor in the Theological Seminary of Auburn, N. Y., and as Chancellor of Leroy University, N. Y. His mother, Abia Hyde Cleveland (whose patronymic he bears), was the daughter of the Rev. Aaron Cleveland (1744-1815), of Norwich and Hartford, Conn., who was the son of the Rev. Aaron Cleveland (1719–1757). Her father was the author of a poem on Slavery (1775), and of a poetic burlesque, called "Family Blood.” Arthur was born, May 10, 1818, at Mendham, N. J., where his father had just been installed pastor. In his third year, he became a resident of the City of New York, his father having accepted a call to the Spring Street Presbyterian Church of that city. At ten years of age, he was sent to a gymnasium, at Pittsfield, Mass. He entered the University of the City of New York, at the age of sixteen. While yet a Freshman, his poetic propensities found expression in a poem, entitled, "The Progress of Ambition," delivered before one of the literary societies of the University. He contributed, also, "The Blues," and "The Hebrew Muse," to the American Monthly Magazine. In his Junior year (1837), he published "Advent, a Mystery: a Dramatic Poem," with the following filial Dedication: "FATHER! as he, of old who reaped the field, And youthful riot, I these fruits do bring, Accept my early vow, nor frown on what I sing." He graduated in 1838, and, the same year, issued "Athwold: a Romaunt," and two cantos of "Saint Jonathan, the Lay of a Scald," the beginning of a semi-humorous poem, after the manner of Byron's "Don Juan." In the University he was noted for his proficiency in the classics, and particularly, the Greek Poets. He studied German and Hebrew, two years, under the tuition of Prof. Nordheimer. Having connected himself with the Episcopal Church, he entered the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, New York City. He now contributed several fugitive pieces to the New York Churchman (1839), that were extensively copied at home and abroad. In the following year they were published in a volume entitled "Christian Ballads," and received with great favor. In his "Hymn of Boyhood," the first in the book, he thus speaks of his devoted mother: "The first dear thing that ever I loved That smiled, as I woke on the dreamy couch, I never forget the joyous thrill That smile in my spirit stirred, Nor how it could charm me against my will, Till I laughed like a joyous bird." An enlarged edition was issued in 1847. At the commencement of Washington [now Trinity] College, Hartford, Conn., 1840, he delivered a Poem before the Alumni, entitled "Athanasion," which, with "Other Poems," was published in 1842. Prof. Henry Reed calis it "a genuine burst of poetry." He was ordained, June 28, 1841, a deacon, by Bishop B. T. Onderdonk, of New York. In August, 1841, he became the Rector of St. Anne's Church, Morrisania, N. Y., and, September 21st, married his third cousin, Catharine Cleveland, the daughter of Mr. Simeon Hyde, of New York. His "Halloween" was privately printed in 1842, and published with "Other Poems," in 1844. In 1842, he became the Rector of St. John's Church, Hartford, Conn. Three years later, he brought out his "Saul; a Mystery." A visit to the Old World, in 1851, gave occasion for numerous letters to the New York Church Journal, which were afterwards (1855) published in a volume, entitled, "Impressions of England." He became (1854) the Rector of Grace Church, Baltimore, Md., and published (1855) a volume of "Sermons on Doctrine and Duty." At the breaking out of the "War of the Rebellion,” he maintained, amidst great opposition, the cause of his country; and, when the Rectorship of Calvary Church, New York, was made vacant by the resignation and removal of Rev. Dr. Hawks to Baltimore, Dr. Coxe was called thence to take his place. Chosen, in 1864, the Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York, he was duly consecrated, January 4, 1865, at Geneva, N. Y., and has since resided at Buffalo, N. Y. Dr. Coxe has frequently contributed to the Quarterly Reviews, and other Periodicals. To the American Biblical Repository, New York (1839), he contributed, "Modern English Poetry" and "Cowper's Poetry and Letters"; to the New York Review, "Devotional Poetry"; to the Church Review, "Schools in American Literature" and "Writings of Hawthorne"; besides several Articles to Blackwood's Magazine. He translated from the French, and published with a Supplement and Notes (1855), the Abbé Laborde's Impossibility of the Immaculate Conception as an Article of Faith." Also, a Translation of Dr. Von Hirscher's "Sympathies of the Continent, or Proposals for a New Reformation." He is the author, also, of several Occasional Sermons, Episcopal Charges, and Addresses. His "Watchwords: a Hymn for the Times," from which the following stanzas are taken, can scarcely be surpassed as a Battle Cry for the Soldiers of the Cross: "We are living-we are dwelling In a grand and awful time : In an age, on ages telling, "Hark! the waking up of nations, "Will ye play, then? Will ye dally, With your music, with your wine? Up! it is Jehovah's rally! God's own arm hath need of thine. "Worlds are charging-heaven beholding: "Oh! let all the soul within you For the truth's sake go abroad! GEORGE CRABBE. 1754-1832. GEORGE CRABBE, LL.B., "the Poet of the Poor," was born, Christmas-eve, 1754, in the humble sea-faring village of Aldborough, Suffolk, on the shore of the German Ocean. An uninviting, forbidding stretch of sandy soil, with two parallel unpaved streets of squalid dwellings, washed by the ocean-storms, with no compensating background,—such was the place where he was trained. In his poem, "The Village," he alludes to it as follows: "Lo where the heath, with withering brake grown o'er, Rank weeds, that every art and care defy, Reign o'er the land, and rob the blighted rye." The associates of his boyhood were hardly more attractive: "Here joyless roam a wild amphibious race, With sullen woe displayed in every face; Who far from civil arts and social fly, And scowl at strangers with suspicious eye :" "A bold, artful, surly, savage race," ever intent on plunder; who prey on "the finny tribe,” and then "Wait on the shore, and, as the waves run high, Yet the boy, so unhappy in his surroundings, gave early promise of a better style of life. His father was the saltmaster of the village, fond of books and figures. Among his books was Martin's Philosophical Magazine, with its "Poets' Corner." George took to it suprisingly. An edu |