This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 Excerpt: ...vale? I feel that I have wrong'd Nature's most gracious soul! She spreads her glories o'er the earth, And all her children, from their birth, Are joint heirs of the whole! Yea, long as nature's humblest child Hath kept her temple undefiled By sinful sacrifice, Earth's fairest scenes are all his own; He is a monarch, ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 Excerpt: ...vale? I feel that I have wrong'd Nature's most gracious soul! She spreads her glories o'er the earth, And all her children, from their birth, Are joint heirs of the whole! Yea, long as nature's humblest child Hath kept her temple undefiled By sinful sacrifice, Earth's fairest scenes are all his own; He is a monarch, and His throne Is built amid the skies! JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES. Mr. Knowles was born at Cork, about the I year 1789. His father, a near relative of the I celebrated Richarn Brinsley Sherinan, was a popular teacher of elocution in that city. Young Knowles was at a very early age placed at a school in England, where the bent of his genius was shown in his fondness for dramatic literature, and his attempts in dramatic composition. His first effort was called The Chevalier Grillon. At sixteen he wrote a tragedy in five acts, which is still extant, entitled The Spanish Story; eightyears after, the tragedy of Hersilia; and in his twenty-sixth year his first successful piece, The Gipsy, which was performed at Waterford, with Enmcnn Kean in the character of the hero. This was succeeded by Brian Boroighme, Caius Gracchus, Virginius, William Tell, Alfred the Great, The Hunchback, The Wife of Mantua, The Beggar's Daughter of Bethnal Green, The Love Chase, Woman's Wit, The Wrecker's Daughter, Love, John di Procida, The Maid of Mariendorpt, The Secretary, and other plays, all of which have been acted with applause in the British and American theatres. Although there are many striking and beautiful passages in the writings of Knowles, he is deserving of little praise as a poet. It would not be difficult to find a very large number of pieces, among the unacted dramas of the last ten years, superior to his in every quality but effectiveness for the stage. He has...
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