THE CON NOU LOT. ONCE in the flight of ages past, There lived a man! and who was he? Mortal! howe'er thy lot be cast, Unknown the region of his birth, That joy, and grief, and hope, and fear, The bounding pulse, the languid limb, The changing spirits' rise and fall; We know that these were felt by him, For these are felt by all. He suffered—but his pangs are o'er; Enjoyed-but his delights are fled; Had friends his friends are now no more, And foes-his foes are dead. He loved-but whom he loved the grave He saw whatever thou hast seen; The rolling seasons, day and night, Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main, Erewhile his portion, life and light, To him exist in vain. The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye That once their shades and glory threw, Have left in yonder silent sky No vestige where they flew. The annals of the human race, Their ruins, since the world began, Of him afford no other trace Than this-there lived a man. AVD LOVE OF CO ULTRY AND HOWE. THERE is a land, of every land the pride, When the wild hunter takes his lonely way, His wastes of snow are lovelier in his eye JOHN WILSON. PROFESSOR WILSON, so long the distinguished occupant of the chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, earned his first laurels by his poetry. He was born in the year 1788, in the town of Paisley, where his father carried on business and attained to opulence as a manufacturer. At thirteen he entered Glasgow University, from which in due time he was transferred to Magdalene College, Oxford. A notable capacity for knowledge and remarkable literary powers were at the same time united to a singular taste for Gymnastic exercises and rural sports. After four years' residence at Oxford, the poet purchased a small but beautiful estate on the banks of Lake Windermere. He married-built a house and a yacht-enjoyed himself among the magnificent scenery of the lakes-wrote poetry-and cultivated the society of Wordsworth. These must have been happy days. With youth, robust health, fortune, and an exhaustless imagination, Wilson must, in such a spot, have been blest even up to the dreams of a poet. Some reverses, however, came, and, after entering himself of the Scottish bar, he sought and obtained his Moral Philosophy chair. He connected himself with Blackwood's Magazine, and in this miscellany poured forth the riches of his fancy, learning, and taste. The poetical works of Wilson have been collected in two volumes. They consist of the "Isle of Palms," "City of the Plague," and several smaller pieces. His prose works have been more popular than his poems. "The Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life," a collection of beautiful stories |