No place each way is happy. Here I hold And greatness of each star shines in the state, O busy folly! why do I my brain Or quick designs of France? Why not repair And neighbour thee, dear friend? Who so dost give And, by the aid of leisure, so control And foreign plots. Do but in thy own shad To statesmen like a vision in the night; O' the country dead our thoughts, nor busy care A DESCRIPTION OF CASTARA. 1 Like the violet which, alone, 2 Such is her beauty, as no arts 3 Cautious, she knew never yet What a wanton courtship meant; Nor speaks loud, to boast her wit; In her silence eloquent: Of herself survey she takes, But 'tween men no difference makes. 4 She obeys with speedy will Her grave parents' wise commands; She nor acts, nor understands: 5 She sails by that rock, the court, Where vice is enthroned for wit. 6 She holds that day's pleasure best, O'er that darkness, whence is thrust 7 She her throne makes reason climb; While wild passions captive lie: And, each article of time, JOSEPH HALL, BISHOP OF NORWICH. THIS distinguished man must not be confounded with John Hall, of whom all we know is, that he was born at Durham in 1627,-that he was educated at Cambridge, where he published a volume of poems,—that he practised at the bar, and that he died in 1656, in his twenty-ninth year. One specimen of John's verses we shall quote: THE MORNING STAR. Still herald of the morn. whose ray Being page and usher to the day, Doth mourn behind the sun, before him play; The dark retire, the lark appear; The early cocks cry comfort, screech-owls fear; Then falls asleep, while they are loth To part without a more engaging oath : Of Julia; tell her that she lies Too long; thy lord, the Sun, will quickly rise. Nay, worse, unless that kinder she Smile day, and in my zenith seated be, I needs a calenture must shun, And, like an Ethiopian, hate my sun. John's more celebrated namesake, Joseph, was born at Bristowe Park, parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, in 1574. He studied and took orders at Cambridge. He acted for some time as master of the school of Tiverton, in Devonshire. It is said that the accidental preaching of a sermon before Prince Henry first attracted attention to this eminent divine. Promotion followed with a sure and steady course. He was chosen to accompany King James to Scotland as one of his chaplains, and subsequently attended the famous Synod of Dort as a representative of the English Church. He had before this, while quite a young man, (in 1597,) published, under the title of Virgidemiarum,' his Satires. In the year 1600 he produced a satirical fiction, entitled, Mundus alter et idem;' in which, เ while pretending to describe a certain terra australis incognita, he hits hard at the existent evils of the actual world. Hall was subsequently created Bishop of Exeter, where he exposed himself to obloquy by his mildness to the Puritans. 'Had,' Campbell justly remarked, 'such conduct been, at this critical period, pursued by the High Churchmen in general, the history of a bloody age might have been changed into that of peace; but the violence of Laud prevailed over the milder counsels of a Hall, an Usher, and a Corbet.' Yet Hall was a zealous Episcopalian, and defended that form of government in a variety of pamphlets. In the course of this controversy he came in collision with the mighty Milton himself, who, unable to deny the ability and learning of his opponent, tried to cover him with a deluge of derision. Besides these pamphlets, the Bishop produced a number of Epistles in prose, of Sermons, of Paraphrases, and a remarkable series of Occasional Meditations,' which became soon, ( continue to be, popular. and Hall, who had in his early days struggled hard with narrow circumstances and neglect, seemed to reach the climax of prosperity when he was, in 1641, created by the King Bishop of Norwich. But having, soon after, unfortunately added his name to the Protest of the twelve prelates against the authority of any laws which should be passed during their compulsory absence from Parliament, he was thrown into the Tower, and subsequently threatened with sequestration. After enduring great privations, he at last was permitted to retire to Higham, near Norwich, where, reduced to a very miserable allowance, he continued to labour as a pastor, with unwearied assiduity, till, in 1656, death closed his eyes, at the advanced age of eighty-two. Bishop Hall, if not fully competent to mate with Milton, was nevertheless a giant, conspicuous even in an age when giants were rife. He has been called the Christian Seneca, from the pith and clear sententiousness of his prose style. His 'Meditations,' ranging over almost the whole compass of Scripture, as well as an incredible variety of ordinary topics, are distinguished by their fertile fancy, their glowing language, and by thought which, if seldom profound, is never commonplace, and seems |