ful speaking were nowhere taught with more assiduity and success. "In 1775 Mrs. Barbauld committed to the press a small volume entitled "Devotional Pieces compiled from the Psalms of David, with Thoughts on the Devotional Taste, and on Sects and Establishments." As a selection it did not meet with great success; nor did the essay escape without some animadversion. It was afterwards separated from the Psalms and reprinted with the Miscellaneous Pieces, and will be further noticed in the sequel. "The union of Mr. and Mrs. Baubauld proved unfruitful, and they sought to fill the void, of which in the midst of their busy avocations they were still sensible, by the adoption of a son out of the family of Dr. Aikin. Several particulars relative to this subject will be found in the letters of Mrs. Barbauld to her brother:- it is sufficient here to mention, that they received the child when somewhat under two years of age, and that his education became thenceforth a leading object of Mrs. Barbauld's attention. For the use of her little Charles she composed those "Early Lessons" which have justly gained for her the reverence and love of both parents and children; a work which may safely be asserted to have formed an æra in the art of early instruction, and to stand yet unrivalled amid numberless imitations. "The solicitations of parents anxious to obtain for their sons what they regarded as the best tuition, now induced her to receive as her own peculiar pupils several little boys, to whom. she condescended to teach the first rudiments of literature.. Thomas Denman, Esq., now a distinguished member of the legal profession and of the House of Commons, was committed to her care before he had accomplished his fourth year. Sir William Gell, the zealous explorer of the plain of Troy, was another of her almost infant scholars; and it was for the benefit of this younger class that her "Hymns in Prose for Children" were written, in which it was her peculiar object (to, use her own words in the preface) to impress devotional feelings as early as possible on the infant mind,'-'to im press them, by connecting religion with a variety of sensible objects, with all that he sees, all he hears, all that affects his young mind with wonder or delight; and thus, by deep, strong, and permanent associations, to lay the best foundation' for practical devotion in future life.' "None of her works is a fairer monument than this, of the elevation of her soul and the brightness of her genius. While' discarding the aid of verse, she every where bursts forth into poetry; while stooping to the comprehension of infancy, she has produced a precious manual of devotion, founded on the contemplation of nature, fitted to delight the taste and warm the piety of the most accomplished minds and finest spirits. "Meantime Palgrave school was progressively increasing in numbers and reputation, and several sons of noble families were sent to share in its advantages; of whom may be named, the late amiable and lamented Basil Lord Daer (a favourite pupil), and three of his brothers, including the last Earl of Selkirk; two sons of Lord Templetown, Lord More, Lord Aghrim, and the Honourable Augustus Phipps: these, who were parlour-boarders, enjoyed most of the benefit of the conversation and occasional instructions of Mrs. Barbauld; and all, it is believed, quitted the school with sentiments towards her of high respect and attachment. "A course of honourable and prosperous exertion must always be productive of satisfaction to a well-constituted mind, and in this view Mrs. Barbauld migat regard with complacency her situation at Palgrave. Its cares and its monotony were also relieved by vacations, which she and Mr. Barbauld usually passed either in agreeable visits to their friends in different parts of the country, or in the more animated delights of London society. As their connexions were extensive, they were now enabled to procure themselves a considerable share of that amusing and instructive variety of scenes and characters which forms the peculiar charm of the metropolis. At the splendid mansion of her early and constant admirer Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Barbauld beheld in perfection the imposing union of literature and fashion; under the humbler roof of her friend and publisher, the late worthy Joseph Johnson of St. Paul's Church-yard, she tasted, perhaps with higher relish, 'the feast of reason and the flow of soul,' in a chosen knot of lettered equals. Her own connexions introduced her to leading characters among the dissenters and persons of opposition-politics; — those of Mr. Barbauld led her among courtiers and supporters of the establishment. Her own candid spirit, and courteous though retiring manners, with the varied graces of her conversation, recommended her alike to all. "The business of tuition, however, to those by whom it is faithfully and zealously exercised, must ever be fatiguing beyond almost any other occupation; and Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld found their health and spirits so much impaired by their exertions, that at the end of eleven years they determined upon quitting Palgrave, and allowing themselves an interval of complete relaxation before they should again embark in any scheme of active life. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1785 they embarked for Calais; and after extending their travels as far as Geneva, returned to winter in the south of France. In the spring they again bent their course northwards, and after a leisurely survey of Paris returned to England in the month of June 1786. The remainder of that year they passed chiefly in London, undecided with respect to a future place of residence; but early in the following one, Mr. Barbauld having been elected their pastor by a small dissenting congregation at Hampstead, they fixed themselves in that agreeable village, where for several years Mr. Barbauld received a few young gentlemen as his pupils, while Mrs. Barbauld gave daily instructions to a young lady whose mother took up her residence at Hampstead for the benefit of this tuition: - some years after, she accepted another pupil on a similar plan. "Her brother, who placed no small part of his own pride in the efforts of her genius and the extension of her fame, observed with little complacency that her powers were wasted in supineness or in trivial occupations; and early in 1790 he apostrophized her in the following sonnet : Thus speaks the muse, and bends her brow severe : — And crown thy youthful head with freshest bays, Those sacred gifts whose meed is deathless praise, And thy own Corsica has burst her chain! O let the song to Britain's shores rebound, Where Freedom's once-loved voice is heard, alas! in vain." This animating expostulation conspiring with the events of the spirit-stirring times which now approached, had the effect of once more rousing her to exertion. In 1790, the rejection of a bill for the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts called forth her eloquent and indignant address to the opposers of this repeal: her poetical epistle to Mr. Wilbeforce on the rejection of the bill for abolishing the Slave Trade was written in 1791. The next year produced her "Remarks on Mr. Gilbert Wakefield's Inquiry into the expediency and propriety of public or social Worship :" and her "Sins of GovernmentSins of the Nation, or a Discourse for the Fast," appeared in 1793. She also supplied some valuable contributions to Dr. Aikin's popular book for children, "Evenings at Home," the first volume of which appeared in 1792; but her share in this work has generally been supposed much greater than in fact it was; of the ninety-nine pieces of which it consisted, fourteen only are hers. * "By this time, the effervescence caused by the French revolution had nearly subsided; and Mrs. Barbauld, who could "They are the following:-The Young Mouse; The Wasp and Bee; Alfred, a drama; Animals and Countries; Canute's Reproof; The Masque of Nature; Things by their right Names; The Goose and Horse; On Manufactures; The Flying-fish; A Lesson in the Art of Distinguishing; The Phoenix and Dove ; The Manufacture of Paper; The Four Sisters. In a new edition will be added, Live Dolls." seldom excite herself to the labour of composition, except on the spur of occasion, gave nothing more to the public for a considerable number of years, with the exception of two critical essays; one prefixed to an ornamented edition of “Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination," the other to a similar one of the "Odes of Collins:" of which the first appeared in 1795, the second in 1797. Both are written with elegance, taste, and acuteness: but, on the whole, they are less marked with the peculiar features of her style than perhaps any other of her prose pieces. "No event worthy of mention occurred till 1802, when Mr. Barbauld accepted an invitation to become pastor of the congregation (formerly Dr. Price's) at Newington Green; and, quitting Hampstead, they took up their abode in the village of Stoke Newington. The sole motive for this removal, which separated them from a residence which they liked, and friends to whom they were cordially attached, was the mutual desire of Dr. Aikin and Mrs. Barbauld to pass the closing period of their lives in that near neighbourhood which admits of the daily and almost hourly intercourses of affection, a desire which was thus affectingly expressed by the former in an epistle addressed to his sister during her visit to Geneva in 1785. 'Yet one dear wish still struggles in my breast, In fond affection as in blood allied, Have wandered devious frou each other's side; Allowed to catch alone some transient view, Scarce long enough to think the vision true! O then, while yet some zest of life remains, While transport yet can swell the beating veins, While sweet remembrance keeps her wonted seat, And fancy still retains some genial heat; When evening bids each busy task be o'er, Once let us meet again, to part no more!' The evening which was the object of these earnest aspirations had now arrived; and it proved a long, though by no means |