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of eloquence which in his political and moral writ-
ings have long engaged the admiration of Europe.
" In his external form and appearance there was
nothing uncommon. When perfectly at ease, and
when warmed with conversation, his gestures were
animated, and not ungraceful; and in the society of
those he loved his features were often brightened
with a smile of inexpressible benignity. In the
company of strangers his tendency to absence, and
perhaps still more his consciousness of this ten-
dency, rendered his manner somewhat embarrassed
�an effect which was probably not a little heightened
by those speculative ideas of propriety which his
recluse habits tended at once to perfect in his con-
ception, and to diminish his power of realizing. He
never sat for his picture; but the medallion of Tassie
conveys an exact idea of his profile, and of the
general expression of his countenance."
SMITH, ALEXANDER. After the great poets of
the nineteenth century had passed away, and when
Wordsworth, the earliest and latest of the illustrious
throng, was silent, a change occurred similar to that
which succeeded the poetical eras of Elizabeth and
Anne in the history of British literature. It was
thought that the tuneless interval had commenced
which generally interposes as a law of nature betwixt
the setting of the old constellation of poets and the
rise of a new, while the practical and scientific
studies of the present utilitarian generation confirmed
the suspicion. The present interval, however, as in
the preceding instances, has not been wholly a void,
and solitary voices have succeeded the chorus, by
which the anthem is continued until it shall burst
again into full swell. Of these poets who have suc-
ceeded the demise of Scott, Southey, Byron, Moore,
Campbell, Wordsworth, and their scarcely illus-
trious contemporaries, and whose touches upon the
British harp still "tell that yet it lives," there are
two whose memory will not be consigned to the
oblivion that may await the rest. Of these two the
distinguished name of Tennyson will at once occur
to the reader. The other, who evinced a similar
spirit, but whom adverse circumstances and a pre-
mature death prevented from ripening into the matu-
rity of which he gave so fair a promise, was Alex-
ander Smith, the subject of our present memoir.
This amiable and distinguished poet was born at
Kilmarnock on the 31st of December, 1830. His
father, of whom he was the eldest son, was a designer
of patterns; his mother, whose maiden name was
Murray, was of a respectable Highland family.
With the usual education of Scottish boyhood
Alexander Smith combined a remarkable love of
poetry, and his early attention and extensive reading
of the works of our best poets already indicated the
direction in which his tendencies lay. The notice
he attracted as a diligent and apt scholar suggested
to his parents the idea of devoting him to the church,
and his studies were accordingly directed to his ulti-
mate education for the ministry; but in consequence
of a severe illness, his literary studies for the clerical
profession were first interrupted, and finally aban-
doned. Turning his attention to his father's occupa-
tion of a pattern-designer, his good taste and natural
quickness soon made him a master in this artistic
department of trade, while he still continued to cling
to his poetical studies; and on removing to Glasgow,
it was with the double object of finding employment
among its manufacturers, and intellectual improve-
ment among its literary society. In the latter and
more important aim he was especially successful;
and by the society of J. P. Nichol, professor of
astronomy in the university of Glasgow, Mr. James
Hedderwick, and Mr. Hugh Macdonald, the talented
conductors of the Glasgow Citizen, and other men
of literary standing in the capital of the west, his
sphere of information was extended, his taste regu-
lated, and his first attempts in authorship encouraged
and patronized.
Under this irregular but still effective training of
a poet, the time had arrived when this divided
allegiance between business must be severed, and
the choice of a life occupation adopted. He must
wholly become a pattern-designer, in which he had
already manifested great proficiency, or wholly
abandon this comfortable calling for the precarious
chances of literature. The choice was made, and
made at an early period: he would be a poet in spite
of all the ills that poetry is heir to. It was at an
early period of his life also that the die was cast.
Before he had reached his twentieth year he had
written, and in 1851-2 he published his Life Drama,
a wonderful poem, especially when the youth of the
author is taken into account. Ambitious as the at-
tempt was, it was recognized as a poem of the highest
order, while its faults were excused as the youthful
redundancies of a great genius which a few years
would suffice to correct. Accordingly every review
and newspaper, from the highest metropolitan to
the humblest provincial, caught and re-echoed the
prevalent commendation, and announced, that after
so many disappointments, a true poet had at length
appeared. The effect of this sudden outburst of
popularity was, that edition after edition of the
volume was published with unprecedented rapidity,
and admiration, instead of being palled, was increased
by each repetition. To the Life Drama were also
appended a collection of sonnets; and these, tried by
the severe standard allotted to such productions, were
declared to be noble specimens of poetical sentiment,
expressed in the purest and happiest style. Such
criticisms, however, in many cases overcharged, were
not always correct, and in not a few instances the
overstrained language and descriptions of the youth-
ful poet were selected as beauties to be admired and
commended. A reaction of dissent was the conse-
quence among a party of the severely critical, headed
by Professor Aytoun, author of Lays of the Cavaliers,
who produced on this occasion a burlesque tragedy,
called Firmihan, in which Smith and his chief
laudator, Gilfillan, were held up to ridicule, and
their style of poetry nicknamed the "Spasmodic
School." But the satire was too severe to be mis-
chievous, and Aytoun himself, on the return of better
thoughts, found cause to revoke his judgment. In
the meantime, amidst such instant and overwhelming
popularity, it was well that the young poet was not
carried off his feet and borne away. Moved indeed
he must have been, and not a little giddy with his
sudden elevation to so high a rank; but the feeling
found in him no correspondent vanity to cherish it,
so that it quickly died out, and left him as he was
before. This is attested by one of his friends, who
knew him well, and knew him to the last. "Rarely,
indeed," he says, "has such an example been found
in the annals of literature, of a nature so richly gifted
with the elements of poetry and passion, and yet so
firmly tempered by natural piety and common sense.
In this respect alone the life and character of Alex-
ander Smith have been full of precious instruction
to young literary aspirants. The brilliancy of his
first appearance before the world, and the flattering
testimonies that greeted his entrance into the charmed
circle of poets, had no effect whatever in disturbing
the serene balance of his nature, or perverting the
simplicity of his belief in faithful and honest work
as the true avocation of every man, and the ulti-