Poems by the Late John Bethune

Glass Book_ ' POEMS BY THE LATE JOHN BETHUNE: WITH A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE, BY HIS BROTHER. Let not ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; Nor grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile, The short and simple annals of the poor. Gray. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & Co., and TANNER, BROTHERS J. JOHNSTONE, EDINBURGH ; AND WRIGHT & ALBRIGHT BRISTOL. 1841 %z ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. 1% . v> JOHN WRIGHT, PRINTER, BRISTOL, 2$k TO JAMES OGILVIE DALGLIESH, Esq., AS A SMALL TOKEN OF ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE FOR THE INTEREST WHICH HE TOOK IN ITS FIRST PUBLICATION, THE FOLLOWING LITTLE WORK is MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY HIS VERY HUMBLE SERVANT THE EDITOR. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. [abridged.] On the merits of the following Poems—when the near rela- tionship in which I stood to their humble Author is considered—it would ill become me to offer an opinion. This much, however, I may say—without influential assistance the literary efforts of individuals in humble life rarely draw the attention of the busy world ; and thus, though their merits were greater than they can possibly be, their chances of success are but small. In the absence of such recommend- ations, I would simply beg the reader of taste to compare them with the productions of others, and judge for himself. As their Author considered very few of them in a finished state, the measure, in some instances, may be found unequal. Where this defect could be remedied without altering the sentiment, it has been done ; but when such alterations would have affected the sense, as well as the sound of the verses, they have not been attempted. Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the poetry, the unimpeachable mo- rality of the whole, and the natural piety of most of the pieces, will, I trust, be at once acknowledged by all who take an interest in these things. If an excuse for offering to the public a sketch of the Author's life should be deemed necessary, something of the kind might, perhaps, be found in the following circumstance. From such of his writings as have been already published, it is at least possible that " some kindred spirit" might be " led to " inquire his fate ; and if the present writer were gone, there lives not a swain, " hoary - headed " or other- wise, who could tell aught concerning him, save that he lived poor, toiled hard, and died early, which is but scanty information. The reader will very probably think that I have been too minute, and detailed too much ; and yet a great deal of what to me would have been interesting has been passed over in silence. For no inconsiderable share of what has been noticed, however, I can only expect to be O PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. pardoned ; and when it is known that our feelings and pursuits were almost the very same—that we never knew what it was to have separate interests for a single moment—that we had buffetted, or rather been buffetted, by Fortune together from boyhood—that we had supped from the same table, sat by the same fire, and slept in the same bed, with very few interruptions, from the period of infancy—and that we were nearly the last of the name and the race to which we be- longed—the reader may, perhaps, be inclined to extend that pardon to one who has now so much of deep and melan- choly interest, connected with the past, to ponder over. At all events, the wish to " make a book" formed no part of my motives for giving these details, as may be easily believed when it is further known that from his own MSS. materials could have been furnished for three volumes instead of one, and that more than a third part of what was actually prepared for the press has been rejected almost indiscrimi- nately to keep the book within the limits originally contem- plated. Such as it is, I would hope that his unadorned story may perhaps be of some use in assisting to form habits of self-denial, industry, perseverance, and virtuous independ- ence in the minds of others. With all its imperfections, it is at least free from that vitiating tendency which has been occasionally complained of, as attaching to the " Lives" of some individuals who, from considering themselves men of great genius, believed that they were at liberty to be still greater profligates. Such as he was, I have endeavoured to represent him, without any attempt to colour more highly his humble virtues. Though I have tried to keep myself as much in the back ground as possible, on some occasions our concerns were so intricately blended, that it was impossible to do justice to his character separately. Much has been told which, but for his early death, would have remained for ever a secret ; but without which, his little history would have been incomplete. A. BETHUNE. Mountpleasant, Newburgh, August, 1840. : PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Before the first edition of the present work was out of the press, the author s mother was seized with palsy, which, by repeated shocks, left her speechless and almost motionless. In this state, the editor, as the last friend who could render her any assistance, was called upon to abandon those pursuits by which he had formerly earned her subsistence and his own, that he might watch over her helplessness, and be ready to supply those wants which she could no longer express. For nearly five months, night and day, such was his occupation. During the early part of this period, the first impression, which was a limited one, had been disposed of; and this circumstance, together with the delusive hope that the down- ward progress of the disease might be arrested by care and unremitting attention, made him anxious to try if he could not obtain a trifle by a second edition, to assist in eking out the slender means which he already pos- sessed of supporting himself and his debilitated parent. The wish to give a still more extensive circulation to these pages had also its share in producing this result and arrangements were accordingly made for reprinting the work. It only remains to be stated that the individual for whose benefit a second edition was projected is now no more, her mortal remains having been deposited beside those of her husband and son, on the 23d of December last—little more than two years and ten months having elapsed between the whole of their deaths. The individual who now writes, and who is the last solitary remnant of the family, is thus left with no domestic ties to fetter his exertions, no filial duties to 8 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. perform, and no one for whose wants he can provide ; so that the work can have no claim to attention beyond what it may derive from its own merits, of which it becomes not me to speak ; and if offering it again to the public should be deemed an intrusion, it is to be hoped that the generous reader will at least excuse the motives which prompted to this course. To make the work as deserving as possible of that patronage which it received upon its first appearance, a part of what were considered its least interesting details have been withdrawn from the Life, and seven or eight pages of new matter substituted. To the poetical depart- ment a number of short pieces have also been added. In conclusion, my warmest acknowledgments are due to the conductors of the newspaper press, for the very favourable reception which they have already bestowed on the work. So far as I have seen, the whole of the notices of the first edition have been recommendatory, while some of them have been flattering in no ordinary degree; and I hope their authors will be pleased to accept of the thanks and gratitude of one to whom they were particularly gratifying, as the means of giving a more extensive publicity to the name and the talents of an only brother, who was cut down by death at the very time when his mind might be said to be only beginning to expand. A. BETHUNE. Mountpleasant, Newburgh, May, 1841. INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. The Publishers of the present edition of the Memoir and Poems of John Bethune, were desirous of obtaining an Introduction to the volume from the pen of James Montgomery, Esq. They regret that other engagements prevented his complying with this request; but they have the high gratifica- tion of presenting the reader with an extract from his reply to their application, which, in the hope of benefiting the family, he has kindly given them permission to publish. " Even were I perfectly at leisure, I should hesi- tate to meddle with a subject little needing factitious aid to attract public attention, so far as that can be obtained by unpretending excellence in the noblest but least-regarded species of literature, at a time when physics, mechanics, politics, and po- lemics carry all before them except poetry, which they leave hopelessly behind. In fact, I think that such a prefatory flourish as you desire would de- rogate from the modest yet manly dignity with which the volume comes forth as the beautiful product of two fraternal minds, lovely in life while they laboured and suffered together, and yet love- lier in death, when one being taken and the other 10 INTRODUCTION.

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