urns most
ardently for it, and every earthly thought centres in it. There may be
something visionary in _this_, but I flatter myself that I have prudence
enough to keep my enthusiasm from defeating its own object by too great
haste. Surely there never was a better opportunity offered for the
exertion of literary talent in our own country than is now offered. To
be sure, most of our literary men thus far have not been professedly so
until they have studied and entered the practice of Theology, Law, or
Medicine. But this is evidently lost time. I do believe that we ought to
pay more attention to the opinion of philosophers, that 'nothing but
Nature can qualify a man for knowledge.'

"Whether Nature has given me any capacity for knowledge or not, she has
at any rate given me a very strong predilection for literary pursuits,
and I am almost confident in believing that, if I can ever rise in the
world, it must be by the exercise of my talent in the wide field of
literature. With such a belief, I must say that I am unwilling to engage
in the study of law."

Again on December 31 he writes to his father, by way of New Year's gift,
"Let me reside one year at Cambridge; let me study belles-lettres, and
after that time it will not require a spirit of prophecy to predict with
some degree of certainty what kind of a figure I could make in the
literary world. If I fail here, there is still time enough left for the
study of a profession; and while residing at Cambridge, I shall have
acquired the knowledge of some foreign languages which will be, through
life, of the greatest utility."

The answer of the father is too characteristic to be omitted, whether
for its views as to personal standards or as to poetic structure. Most
youthful poets of that day had to face a critical method based strictly
upon the versification of Pope, and their parents regarded all more
flowing measures as having a slight flavor of the French Revolution.

"The subject of your first letter is one of deep interest and demands
great consideration. A literary life, to one who has the means of
support, must be very pleasant. But there is not wealth enough in this
country to afford encouragement and patronage to merely literary men.
And as you have not had the fortune (I will not say whether good or ill)
to be born rich, you must adopt a profession which will afford you
subsistence as well as reputation. I am happy to observe that my
ambition has never been to a