deputed by his native county, Kent, to present a petition to the House of Commons for the restoration of the King to his [supposed] rights, he was imprisoned in the Gate-house, from which he was, at length, released, on giving bail to the amount of £40,000. He afterwards went into the service of the French King; but coming home in 1648, he was a second time committed to prison. Here his profusion, in support of the cause to which he had devoted himself, was SO unbounded, that when he was set at liberty, says Wood, " having consumed all his estate, he grew very melancholy, (which, at length, brought him into a consumption); became very poor in body and purse; was the object of charity; went in ragged clothes (whereas, when he was in his glory, he wore long cloth of gold and silver); and mostly lodged in obscure and dirty places, more befitting the worst of beggars than poorest of servants. "He died, in a very mean lodging, in Gunpowder Alley, near Shoe Lane, in 1658." His elegant "Song to Althea, from Prison," is so well known, that we should almost apo logize for the insertion of any portion of it; but the last stanza is so exquisitely beautiful, that we must give it a place. PARINI. IT is with a feeling of sincere respect and admiration for his character, that we prepare to make our readers acquainted with the virtues, talents, and misfortunes of Parini, the friend of Ugo Foscolo, and the bold assertor of the dearest interests of society. That he effected his object by somewhat daring and unpleasant means, drawing upon himself the personal threats and enmity of the patrician classes, by satirizing, with happy humour, the follies of his age, occasionally ennobling his indignant strains with the loftiest sentiments, must entitle him only to our further admiration and regard. What is still better, and of more rare occurrence, he made his life throughout the moral of his song. Parini, the son of a poor peasant, was born on the shores of Lake Pusiano, about seven leagues from Milan. The docility and liveliness of his disposition attracted the notice of the monks of his diocese, who selected him from a number of boys, of the same low station, to receive such instructions as were necessary to VOL. 11. fit him for the duties of a curate to some wealthy ecclesiastic. The sole education he ever received was thus provided by a religious community. This, however, he soon extended to objects of classical attainment; but applying too intensely to his studies, and naturally of a delicate frame, he was, in his nineteenth year, attacked by paralysis, which left him a cripple for life, and incapacitated him for the functions of his clerical employers. He could then no longer look forward even to the pittance of a poor curacy, and was thus early taught the first and bitter lesson of disappointment. Retreating from the seminary, he now beheld himself deprived of the common advantages of nature, and cast upon the wide world; even medical assistance failed to relieve him, and never afterwards was he able to walk without support. Besides the necessity of maintaining himself, thus suddenly urged upon him, his mother, the only relation left him, was living in extreme poverty. In this distressing situation, he first resolved to turn his attention to literary labours; and on composing some pieces which he quickly despatched, he had the delight of seeing them "La mai povera madre non ha pane "My mother begs; yet I have not wherewith To help her." He next attempted some poetical compositions, which met with applause, though too unsubstantial to be of material service to the poet. In after years, he tried to repress their publication, though they display evidence of poetic power, and the promise of greater things. They drew upon him the attention of the literary circles, and paved the way to a kinder reception of his future efforts. After struggling through nearly twenty years of obscurity, indigence, and neglect, Parini |