future times one child of genius and of song would peruse with pleasure the effusions of my pen, and heave a sigh over them for my hard destiny, I should feel more than repaid for every privation, every difficulty, and every toil.

I have been introduced, by letters from

Gaby, Esq. of Chippenhain, to Mr. Peel, who is lately come to reside in this part of the country. He is a man of great power and extensive influence. His reception was courtly and polite.

I find by Mr. Allport, to whom Mr. Gaby anxiously posted on his receiving an answer respecting me, that Mr. Peel had for some time delayed writing to my Chippenham friend in the expectation of seeing his father at L Castle, and learning from him what could be done respecting my being made a member of the new Literary Society. He tells him, too, that he has given me leave to walk in the plantations and pleasure grounds, and free access to the castle library. Mr. Allport, it seems, has also taken the liberty to make him acquainted with the tale of my past disappointments and misfortunes, and be has offered to take several copies of my new poem.

With regard to the derivation of the term Under the Rose, which you sent me in your last, permit me to state that I think it is not quite

correct. You there consider that flower as a symbol of Harpocrates, the God of Silence. This deity was worshipped by the Romans, and in the time of Pliny, rings and seals, with the representation of the finger on the mouth, began to be worn to his honour. He was unknown to the Greeks before the time of Alexander; and we trace him as an Egyptian god, represented by those people with the finger on the mouth, (as among the Romans) with the cornucopia, lotus, &c. When the Greeks borrowed him, they changed his name to Sigaleon, and we find the poppy among his attributes; but in no single instance is the rose represented as being sacred to him.

The Greeks describe him with an Egyptian mitre, as an acknowledgment of his being a foreign deity; and what is very singular, the Egyptians represent him with the head shorn, and a lock of hair on one side, (Mongez Rec. d'Ant.) which gives him a pundit-like appearance, and leads us to infer that the Egyptians borrowed him from the oriental mythology. The rose is a flower highly esteemed among the Persians, and is considered as the beloved of the nightingale. Saadi, in his Gool-istaun, or Bed of Roses, frequently alludes to the allegorical

and a

lines of this flower and the bird of song; fable on the same subject is introduced by Sir W. Jones in his Persian Grammar. Among the Orientals, the rose is supposed to be intrusted with the secrets of the nightingale; but neither in the Egyptian, Grecian, nor Roman attributes is this flower peculiar to Harpocrates. It was, however, an emblem of silence among the Romans, although its meaning is not clear. Hafez, the Persian Anacreon, in many of his Odes alludes to his mistress under the term Gool, or rose; nor do any of his wild ecstatic dreams of bliss and voluptuousness appear to be complete, unless he calls for roses to be scattered round. The Romans were also passionately fond of this flower, and as a term of endearment, used it to their mistresses. It was a luxurious requisite to float in winter on their Falerian draughts: and as the same fondness existed among the Romans as among the Persians for this delightful flower, it is possible that the former adopted the oriental fable of the nightingale's sweetly and plaintively unbosoming its sorrows to the modest and blushing rose; and thus we find it as an emblem of secrecy, although not used as sacred to the God of Silence.

But the derivation of the term Under the Rose, appears to be more immediately connected with

the monkish customs, and is handed down as a relic of the Catholic religion. The confessionals were small boxes, in which the penitents were seated while they revealed their sins to the monk, who being in an adjoining room, held his ear to a grating at the side. These boxes were ornamented with small roses over the entrance; and hence, whatever was revealed within these confessionals, was literally sub rosa. The Rose of Jericho was considered miraculous, as it flourished about Christmas; and it may have been applied to the carved work of a confessional box, as well for decorative as for sacred purposes.

I remain,

Yours truly,

SYLVATICUS.

LETTER CIII.

L Cottage.

MY GOOD Friend,

I HAVE been waiting week after week,-nay, month after month in the hope of announcing to you the publication and reception of my new Epic. O, these booksellers! these mercenary booksellers! will they ever bring the poem out?

In a former letter, I acquainted you with my engagement to prepare a new Selection of Poetry.. Having devoted considerable labour to make it an acceptable volume, I was little prepared for the mortification to which the publishers have unfeelingly exposed me. When it came to be printed, it was found not to contain sufficient matter for the size intended. Without giving themselves the trouble to acquaint me with this, they put it in the hands of some one in London to incorporate what stuff he pleased, and deducted nearly fifteen pounds from the sum they originally agreed to pay me for the work! A rare sample of the delicacy and liberality of these encouragers of literary talent and genius!