Alas! he has "fallen into the sere and yellow leaf," for though sometimes uttering brilliant thoughts, they are "like angel visits, few and far between;" and total silence, or half-incoherent rhapsodies, mark the intervals.
This melancholy change is accounted for by the effects of an indulgence in wine, had recourse to in consequence of depression of spirits.

Nor is this pernicious indulgence confined to the evening, for at a _dejeuner a la fourchette_ at two o'clock, enough wine is drunk to dull his faculties for the rest of the day.

What an unpoetical close to a life once so brilliant! Alas, alas, for poor human nature! when, even though illumined by the ethereal spark, it can thus sully its higher destiny.

I thought of the many fanciful and graceful poems so often perused with pleasure, written by Mr.Spencer amid the brilliant _fetes_ in which he formerly passed his nights, and where he often found his inspirations.

His was ever a courtly Muse, but without the hoop and train--a ball-room _belle_, with alternate smiles and sentimentality, and witty withal.