temper, even in later life, was intolerant of contradiction, and he probably expressed his opinions before the guests at Belvoir with more vehemence than prudence.  But if the rebuffs he met with were long remembered, they taught him something of value, and enlarged that stock of worldly wisdom so prominent in his later writings.  In the story of The Patron, the young student living as the rich man’s guest is advised by his father as to his behaviour with a fulness of detail obviously derived from Crabbe’s own recollections of his early deficiencies:—­

  “Thou art Religion’s advocate—­take heed. 
  Hurt not the cause thy pleasure ’tis to plead;
  With wine before thee, and with wits beside,
  Do not in strength of reasoning powers confide;
  What seems to thee convincing, certain, plain,
  They will deny and dare thee to maintain;
  And thus will triumph o’er thy eager youth,
  While thou wilt grieve for so disgracing truth. 
  With pain I’ve seen, these wrangling wits among,
  Faith’s weak defenders, passionate and young;
  Weak thou art not, yet not enough on guard
  Where wit and humour keep their watch and ward. 
  Men gay and noisy will o’erwhelm thy sense,
  Then loudly laugh at Truth’s and thy expense: 
  While the kind ladies will do all they can
  To check their mirth, and cry ‘The good young man!’”

Meantime there were alleviations of the poet’s lot.  If the guests of the house were not always convinced by his arguments and the servants did not disguise their contempt, the Duke and Duchess were kind, and made him their friend.  Nor was the Duke without an intelligent interest in Crabbe’s own subjects.  Moreover, among the visitors at Belvoir were many who shared that interest to the full, such as the Duke of Queensberry, Lord Lothian, Bishop Watson, and the eccentric Dr. Robert Glynn.  Again, it was during Crabbe’s residence at Belvoir that the Duke’s brother, Lord Robert Manners, died of wounds received while leading his ship, Resolution, against the French in the West Indies, in the April of 1782.  Crabbe’s sympathy with the family, shown in his tribute to the sailor-brother appended to the poem he was then bringing to completion, still further strengthened the tie between them.  Crabbe accompanied the Duke to London soon after, to assist him in arranging with Stothard for a picture to be painted of the incident of Lord Robert’s death.  It was during this visit that Crabbe received the following letter from Burke.  The letter is undated, but belongs to the month of May, for The Village was published in that month, and Burke clearly refers to that poem as just received, but as yet unread.  Crabbe seems to have been for the time off duty, and to have proposed a short visit to the Burkes;—­