ON THE DEATH OF H. K. WHITE. Too, too prophetic did thy wild note swell, Untimely, wither'd by the northern gale.* To see thee languish into quick decay. Yet was not thy departing immature? For ripe in virtue thou wert reft away, And pure in spirit, as the bless'd are pure; Pure as the dew-drop, freed from earthly leaven, That sparkles, is exhaled, and blends with heaven! + *See Clifton Grove, p. 16, ed. 1803. T PARK. †Young, I think, says of Narcissa, she sparkled, was exhaled, and went to Heaven.' END OF POETICAL REMAINS LETTERS. TO HIS BROTHER NEVILLE. DEAR BROTHER, Nottingham, September, 1799. IN consequence of your repeated solicitations, I now sit down to write to you, although I never received an answer to the last letter which I wrote, nearly six months ago; but, as I never heard you mention it in any of my mother's letters, I am induced to think it has miscarried, or been mislaid in your office. 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 anything disagreeable, but, on the contrary, everything 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. The study of the law is well known to be a dry, difficult task, and requires a comprehensive, good understanding; and I hope you will allow me (without charging me with egotism) to have a tolerable one; and I trust with perseverance, and a very large law library to refer to, I shall be able to accomplish the study of so much of the laws of England, and our system of jurisprudence, in less than five years, as to enable me to be a country attorney; and then, as I shall have two more years to serve, I hope I shall attain so much knowledge in all parts of the law, as to enable me, with a little study at the inns of court, to hold an argument |