Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/84

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. m. JAX. ;, iwe.

of the miscellaneous writings of Ralegh for the eighth volume of the Oxford edition of the works of the latter (1829), a fact not mentioned in the bibliographical list of the former in the 'D.N.B.' Who was Joseph Harding ?

The P.S. relating to the hindrances experienced by literary men in the prose- cution of their researches during the first half of the last century offers a striking contra-st to the assistance, courtesy, and facilities for pursuing their inquiries which they meet with at the present day in the various public libraries, tkc.

T. N. BKUSHFIELD, M.D.

Salterton, Devon.

ROBERT FARREN CHEETHAM. THE name of Robert Farren Cheetham belongs only to the byways of literary history and bibliography. A brilliant career appeared to be open to him, but his own high hopes and the expectations of his friends were frustrated by an early death. His literary remains are inconsiderable, but they will compare favourably in quality with the productions at the same age of many who have attained distinction. The notice of him which appears in Mr. Finch Smith's 'Admis- sion Register of Manchester School' can be somewhat amplified. He was the son of Mr. Jonathan Cheetham, a flour merchant of .Stockport, and was for five years under the care of the Rev. William Jackson, M.A., master of the Free Grammar School at Stock- port. Cheetham lavishes high praise on his first master as one " whose heart was purely of celestial frame." From Stockport the .young scholar proceeded to Manchester, and was admitted to the Grammar School 27 July, 1792. Three years later he published a tiny pamphlet of ' Poems, by MA9HTH2.' This was printed by George Nicholson & Co., Palace Street, Manchester, and extends to thirty - seven pages, somewhat curiously numbered. Nicholson, who was a man of literary taste and published many excellent selections, appears to have admired the boy's talent and included some of his verses in the ' Literary Miscellany.' The ' Ode on the Inadrniration of the Grandest Objects because daily before our Eyes,' 'On the Superior Felicity of the Humble State,' and ' On the Mischievous Effec ts of Prosperity ' belong to a form of literature now out of fashion. In 1796 Cheetham again sought public favour. Nicholson had now left Manchester, and the little volume of ' Odes and Miscellanies' was printed by J. Clarke, of Stockport, These "juvenile productions"

are dedicated to Charles Lawson, M.A., Head Master of the Free Grammar School, Manchester, as "a small but sincere testimony of gratitude for his care and instruction during the last four years." The dedication is followed by a letter. " Many of the pieces which form the present volume, have already come before you as school exercises ; not a few have received yourapprobation : on these, therefore, whose decision shall I fear ? " asks the young poet. He mentions that he has j completed his nineteenth year, and is about to leave school for "the muse- wreathed banks of Isis." This is the reason he assigns for "a strong desire to separate by publication the efforts of the schoolboy from (I hope) the maturer productions of the Collegian." In addition to Mr. Lawson it appears that " the Tenth Muse, the all-accomplished Seward," and The British Critic had told him that he "can write." His neighbours seem to have been willing to encourage his talents, as there is a goodly list of subscribers, in which the names of Cheshire gentry and Manchester merchants are pleasantly intermingled. The poem ' On the Love of Fame ' was spoken at Manchester School in 1795. An ' Ode for Her Majesty's Birthday ' was spoken at the Theatre Royal, Stockport, in the character of Britannia, 18 January, 1796. From an address to ' Health ' we learn that the young author, in spite of temperate living, was daily in physical anguish :

Yet still the tooth of Pain this temple gnaws, he says.

I know thou tread'st the carpet of the plain, I know thou lov'st the brook-adorned dell, The dark embowering wood and mountain's swell, But now I cannot fly the Town and Learning's chain.

Pass a few loitering years aud by the side Of vallied brook, I '11 woo thee for my bride ; Till then farewell ! a long and sad adieu !

Unless Oxonia's breeze this wasting frame renew. An address to the 'School-Fire' does not

give one the idea that the Manchester boys

were made too comfortable whilst pursuing

their studies:

Thy cheerful blaze, dispersing Winter's cold, Attracts my eyes and lures my frosted feet : In vain it lures, since I can but behold Thy flame, at useless distance, from my seat. My chattering teeth the cold, cold hour bespeak, My stiffly-bending fingers ask thine aid, And deem it hard that rigid rules were made, And oft thro' rigid rules would prompt to break. E'en now, methinks, in tantalizing guise, Thy blaze arises, " smiling as in scorn," And makes me Nature's Sophocles despise, And cease with eye-less (Edipus to mourn. O could I change, Vertumnus-like, my form,

Unken'd by Varro's classic eyes, 1 'd catch thine influence warm.