in London, and obtained assurances of assistance from Sotheby, Lord Carysfort, and others. Two short years laid the ardent student in his grave, a victim to College honours. "Were I to paint a picture of Fame," were his words to a friend shortly before his death, "crowning a distinguished undergraduate after a senate-house examination, I would represent her as concealing a death's head under a mask of beauty." He spoke with a presentiment of his approaching doom. Southey mourned his fate, edited his remains, wrote the tragic story of his life, and assisted his surviving brothers, who ever remained his grateful friends and correspondents.
Ebenezer Elliott acquired much of his after power and perspicuity, through following the judicious advice that Southey at various times administered, on receiving copies of his first crude and imperfect compositions. But the detail would be endless were we to go through the list of all the aspiring candidates for fame, who wrote to Southey for advice, and teased him to correct or read their effusions. Two only we select, as being instances of unusual promise untimely cut off in the unfruitful blossom.
James Dusautoy was the son of a retired officer living in Devonshire. He was one of a numerous family; their means were narrow, and he was ambitious of working his way through literature to the bar. He forwarded some of his compositions to Southey, asking his advice as to the advisability of publishing them. He was then but seventeen, and a boy's verses would not be likely to attract much notice, competing with the giant reputations of that prolific era. "Abstain from publication," was the reply, "read and write. Shoot at a high mark, and you will gain strength of arm. Precision of aim will come at its proper season." Southey interested himself to obtain his admission at Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he greatly distinguished himself in the College examinations;
