with all kindly and gentle affections. Quiet and unobtrusive in manners,
and fond of the-retirement of study, it was only in the privacy
of the domestic circle that he could be rightly known; and those that
were privileged to approach nearest the Sanctum Sanctorum of his
happy home, could best-see the full beauty of his character. That
sacred veil cannot be raised to the public eye, but beneath its folds
is preserved the pure memory of one- who illustrated every relation
of life with a-new grace that was all his own, and who, in departing,
has left behind him an impression on all hearts, which not the most
exacting affection could wish in any respect other than it is.
The early training of Morton was in strict accordance with the
principles of the Society of Friends, of which his mother was a member.
His school education—whose deficiencies he always mentioned
with regret, and remedied, by sedulous labor in after years — was
throughout of that character, and had all the consequent merits and
demerits. I t is a system which represses the imagination and sentiments,
while it cultivates carefully the logical powers; and which
strives to turn all the energies of the pupil’s mind toward the useful
arts, rather than what may be deemed merely ornamental accomplishments.
When it carries him beyond the rudiments, it is usually
into the higher mathematics and mechanical philosophy. Its aim
is utility, even if necessary at the expense of,beauty. It therefore
does not generally encourage the study of the ’dead languages, with
its incidental belles-lettres advantages, and free access to poets and
rhetoricians. This plan of education I believe to be an unsuitable,
and even an injurious one for a youth of cold temperament and
dull sensibilities. Wlien, however, the subject of its operation
is one of opposite tendencies, so decided as to be the better for
repression, it may become not only useful, but the best training for
that particular case. Such I conceive to have been the fact in regard
to Morton. Endowed by nature with a delicate and sensitive temperament,
with warm affections, a keen sense of natural beauties, a
fertile imagination, and that nice musical appreciation which made
him delignt in the accord of measured sounds, he had an early passion
for poetical reading and composition. Even in boyhood he wrote
very creditable verses; and his later productions, — for he continued
to indulge the muse occasionally to the end of his life, although he
would not publish, — often rose considerably above mediocrity.
The following lines may answer as an average specimen of his easy
flow of versification, as well as of his youthful style of thought and
feeling. They were written on the occasion of a visit to Kilcoleman
Castle, county Cork, Ireland, where Spenser lived, and is believed to
have written his immortal poem.
L I N E S
WRITTEN ON A BLANK LEAP OP SPENSER’S “ PAERY QUEENS.”
%
Through many a winding maze in 11 Faery Lande”
0 Spenser! I have followed thee along;
Aye, I have laughed and sigh’d at thy command,
And joy’d me in the magic of thy song:
Wild are thy numbers, but to them belong
The fire of Genius, and poetic skill;
’Tis thine to paint with inspiration strong,
The fate of knight, or dame more knightly still,
* To sway the feeling heart, and rouse it at thy will.
II.
And musing still upon the fairy dream,
1 sought the hall oft trod by thee before;
I bent me down by Mulla’s gentle stream,
And, looking far beyond, gazed fondly o’er
Old Ballyhoura, where in days of yore
Thou watch’d thy flocks with all a shepherd’s pride;
And fancy listened as to catch once more
Thy Harp’s lov’d echo from the mountain side,—
But ah ! no harp is heard in all that region wide £
HI.
The flocks are fled, and in the enchanted hall
No voice replies to voice; but there ye see •
* The ivy clasp the sad and mould’ring wall,
As if to twine a votive wreath for the e :
All — all is desolate,— and if there be
A lonely sound, it is the raven’s cry!
Let years roll on, let wasting ages flee,
Let earthly things delight, and hasten by,
But thy immortal name and song shall never d ie !
Had this inherent tendency been fostered, be would doubtless bave
taken a bigb rank among our American poets. Certainly be would
bave been another man than we have known him. Perhaps bis
nervous temperament, delicate fibre, acute feelings and ardent sympathies,
might bave been developed into the same super-sensitiveness
we bave seen in John Keats and other gifted minds of a constitution
similar to bis own. But the tendency was checked and repressed
from the outset by bis domestic influences, by bis teachers, and subsequently
by bimselfi When be devoted himself to a life of science,
he was earnest to cultivate that style of thought and composition
which accorded with his pursuits; for only by severe mental discipline,
and long-continued effort, could he have acquired that cau