love notes; and in russet coat,
Most homely, like true genius bursting forth
In spite of adverse fortune, a full choir
Within himself, the merry Mock Bird sate,
Filling the air with melody; and at times,
_IN THE RAPT FAVOR OF HIS SWEETEST SONG,
HIS QUIVERING FORM WOULD SPRING INTO THE SKY,
IN SPIRAL CIRCLES, AS IF HE WOULD CATCH
NEW POWERS FROM KINDRED WARBLERS IN THE CLOUDS
WHO WOULD BEND DOWN TO GREET HIM!_

These lines, addressed to the poet by his father, have a pathetic
interest:--

To Harry

Harry, my little blue-eyed boy,
I love to have thee playing near;
There's music in thy shouts of joy
To a fond father's ear.

I love to see the lines of mirth
Mantle thy cheek and forehead fair,
As if all pleasures of the earth
Had met to revel there;

For gazing on thee, do I sigh
That those most happy years must flee,
And thy full share of misery
Must fall in life on thee!

There is no lasting grief below,
My Harry! that flows not from guilt;
Thou canst not read my meaning now--
In after times thou wilt.

Thou'lt read it when the churchyard clay
Shall lie upon thy father's breast,
And he, though dead, will point the way
Thou shalt be always blest.

They'll tell thee this terrestrial ball,
To man for his enjoyment given,
Is but a state of sinful thrall
To keep the soul from heaven.

My boy! the verdure-crowned hills,
The vales where flowers innumerous blow,
The music of ten thousand rills
Will tell thee, 't is not so.

God is no tyrant who would spread
Unnumbered dainties to the eyes,
Yet teach the hungering child to dread
That touching them he dies!

No! all can do his creatures good,
He scatters round with hand profuse--
The only precept understood,
_ENJOY, BUT NOT ABUSE!_

The poet's mother was the daughter of Mr. Charles Prince, a citizen
of Charleston, whose parents had come from England just before the
Revolution. Mr. Prince had married Miss French, daughter of an officer
in the Revolution, whose family were from Switzerland. It was the
influence of his mother also that helped to form the poet's character,
and his intense and passionate love of nature. Her beautiful face and
form, her purity and goodness, her delight in all the sights and sounds
of the country, her childish rapt