nforce its
own development, under seemingly fatal discouragements. The author of
"Saul" is a better illustration of the same fact; for, although, in our
ignorance of the circumstances of his early life, we are unable to
affirm what particular difficulties he had to encounter, we know how
long he was obliged to wait for the first word of recognition, and to
what heights he aspired in the course of many long and solitary years.

The existence of "Saul" was first made known to the world by an article
in the "North British Review," in the year 1858, when the author had
already attained his forty-second year. The fact that the work was
published in Montreal called some attention to it on this side of the
Atlantic, and a few critical notices appeared in our literary
periodicals. It is still, however, comparatively unknown; and those into
whose hands it may have fallen are, doubtless, ignorant of the author's
name and history. An outline of the latter, so far as we have been able
to ascertain its features, will help the reader to a more intelligent
judgment, when we come to discuss the author's claim to a place in
literature.

Charles Heavysege was born in Liverpool, England, in the year 1816. We
know nothing in regard to his parents, except that they were poor, yet
able to send their son to an ordinary school. His passion for reading,
especially such the poetry as fell into his hands, showed itself while
he was yet a child. Milton seems to have been the first author who made
a profound impression upon his mind; but it is also reported that the
schoolmaster once indignantly snatched Gray's "Elegy" from his hand,
because he so frequently selected that poem for his reading-lesson.
Somewhat later, he saw "Macbeth" performed, and was immediately seized
with the ambition to become an actor,--a profession for which few
persons could be less qualified. The impression produced by this
tragedy, combined with the strict religious training which he appears to
have received, undoubtedly fixed the character and manner of his
subsequent literary efforts.

There are but few other facts of his life which we can state with
certainty. His chances of education were evidently very scanty, for he
must have left school while yet a boy, in order to learn his
trade,--that of a machinist. He had thenceforth little time and less
opportunity for literary culture. His reading was desultory, and the
poetic faculty, expending itself on whatever subjects