CORRESPONDENCE. A Portrait of GIFFORD, the celebrated poet, from a fine painting by Hoppner, will appear in No. 83. We thank H. K. W. (Nottingham) for his various favours, and rest perfectly satisfied with his explanation relative to a former contribution. The three sonnets shall have as speedy insertion as possible. His last favour, he will perceive, arrived just in time. We cannot so far depart from our plan, as to adopt the recommendation of OTTENBURN NORTH. A Parody, by ADMISATOR; Lines written on a Summer's Morning, and On the Death of a Young Lady, by J. P. H. the Wye, by MORTIMER, &c. shall appear at the first opportunity. We thank J. D. Booty for his remarks. To CIVIS we say “yes.” We should have great satisfaction were it in our power to oblige an esteemed correspondent at Stamford. The address he so powerfully recommends merits the most extensive circulation, but it is too long to be inserted in the Mirror. We shall be happy to receive short explanations of texts of Scripture, when they are original. The Death, from Stamford, shall be inserted next month. When the work recommended by Mr. Booth appears, it shall have our particular attention. The Old Dog deserted by its Master never came to hand. We thank W. TEMPLETON for his communication with regard to the strolling player, with various other articles. B. H. to Bloomfield, and The little thatch'd House, are under consideration. MONTHLY MIRROR, FOR AUGUST, 1802. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE THOMAS DERMODY, With a Portrait. WE lament the paucity of materials to furnish a sketch sufficiently adequate of the great but unfortunate subject of these scattered records, whose life presented a series of good and evil, whose genius is his best monument, and whose premature death will, by kindred minds, long continue the subject of deep regret. A few weeks before his death, one of the proprietors of the Monthly Mirror requested Mr. Dermody to sit for his portrait, to be engraved for that work. Mr. Allingham junr. of Great Russell-street, an artist of very considerable promise, kindly undertook the task, and in a very few days produced a most animated likeness, from which this engraving has been copied. Mr. Dermody, at that period, notwithstanding a firm belief in his speedy dissolution, consented to furnish his own memoir-alas! the burning fever destroyed all hopes he died, not however without imparting such particulars to a friend as are contained in the following brief account-for which we are indebted to an obliging correspondent. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE POET DERMODY. "STILL is genius doomed to droop in sorrow-again the tear of sensibility must fall for the sufferings of an unhappy minstreland yet another name is to be added to the gloomy list which groans with those of Chatterton, of Savage, and of Otway-Poor Dermody! he is now deaf alike to the voice of censure and of praise; the former he often heard in his life time-the latter cannot penetrate the grave. His faults were sins against himself; let those who have none proclaim them. He was his own enemy, but he was every other man's friend. No one will hear of his untimely death without regret : many will sorrow at his sorrows, and there will not be wanting some to weep over his grave! Peace be with him! Thomas Dermody was born at a town called Innis, in the county of Clare in Ireland, in the year 1774, his father, who was a respectable schoolmaster in that place, early initiated him in the knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages. Dermody was studious even in his childhood, and that which is generally esteemed by other boys a drudgery, was to him a pleasure. At a very early age he had read most of the poets of antiquity, and had absolutely began an English version of Homer, at a time of life when most boys are studying their grammars. At about nine years of age a desire to see the metropolis of his country, led him clandestinely to leave his father's house, and with a small bundle under his arm, and a few shillings in his pocket, he turned his back on his paternal comforts for ever, setting out to seek his fortune, as he himself has related, fully assured in his own mind that his talents and acquirements would soon introduce him to the literary men of the day. Arrived in Dublinall his money expended, and without a friend, or even an acquaintance to whom he could apply for relief-the little fellow wandered about the streets almost perishing with hunger, till chance directed him to a sort of book-stall on Ormond quay, which was kept by a poor man of the name of Saunders, a native of Scotland. Saunders seeing something extraordinary in the appearance of the boy, was induced to ask him some questions, by which means, learning his situation, he gave him an invitation to partake his homely meal, and afterwards lodged him in his stall or shed, the repository of learning. Here Dermody often had the honour of rescuing from the rapacious mice the very leaves on which their heroic deeds were sung by the bard of old-and many a critic rat repented his rashness, caught by the young poet, making rather too free with the works of his dear friends Shakespeare and Cervantes. Under the protection of the friendly bookseller, Dermody remained only a short time: a gentleman happening one day to pass near the stall, detected him in the very act of reading Longinus!— From this moment the fame of his learning began to spread; the book-merchant's stall was often visited by persons who were desirous to converse with the astonishing boy; and he was not long suffered to remain in obscurity. In Ireland, genius, when known, does not long languish in neglect. The Countess of Moira became the patroness of the young Dermody; she placed him under the care of the Rev. Mr. Boyd, of Portarlington, well known to the literary world as the elegant translator of Dante. After his having remained under the care of this clergyman some time, he was, by his noble and beneficent patroness, removed to a celebrated academy in Dublin, kept by the Rev. Mr. Austin. While with Mr. Austin, Dermody published a volume of poems, composed between the ages of ten and twelve, which gained him great celebrity; so much so that he was spoken of in Dublin as a prodigy, and many of the nobility being desirous of seeing and conversing with him, he visited at their houses as often as they could obtain leave of his tutor for a short abstinence |