Page:A Voice from the Nile, and Other Poems. (Thomson, Dobell).djvu/31

 and discouragement so far affected him, that for "seven songless years" his muse was almost or altogether silent. These would have been grievous trials to most poets, and perhaps to him also under other circumstances: but his capacity for suffering was exhausted by his one great grief, and all his other misfortunes were borne with stoical indifference.

He left the Training College in 1854, when the Crimean War was about to begin. He was first sent to serve with a militia regiment in Devonshire. Afterwards he served at Aldershot, Dublin, Jersey, and other places. As regards his conduct as a schoolmaster, it may be remarked that his duties were always efficiently performed; but, as he felt little interest in his profession, he made no pretence of doing so, and in consequence, perhaps, did not obtain so much credit as he really deserved.

It must not be thought that he yielded himself an unresisting victim to the melancholy and despair that had fastened themselves so firmly upon him. He read extensively and studied deeply; but it was the composition of poetry that best enabled him to forget for a time his sorrows. He destroyed many of the poems written in his early manhood; but enough remain to attest the industry with which he cultivated his poetical talents. In the years 1854 to 1860 he wrote many poems, some of which are of considerable length. Perhaps the most remarkable of these is "The Doom of a City," which was written in 1857. Comparing this with "The City of Dreadful Night," written fourteen or fifteen years later, we find a great difference of tone and spirit, but