That pours his purple stream O'er the long prospect wide? With Laughter at her side. Nor fear ye aught in evil hour, Now Mirth hath heard the suppliant poet's prayer; No cloud that rides the blast, shall vex the troubled air. TO SLEEP. SOFT Sleep, profoundly pleasing power, By bowers of birch, and groves of pine, Still on thy banks so gaily green, TO BLUE-EY'D ANN. WHEN the rough North forgets to howl, No more shall flowers the meads adorn; No more shall joy in hope be found; When rolling seasons cease to change, TO LEVEN-WATER. ON Leven's banks, while free to rove, Pure stream! in whose transparent wave With white, round, polish'd pebbles spread; What time the iron-bearted Gaul Charlemagne obliged four thousand Saxon prisoners to embrace the Christian religion, and immediately after they were baptized ordered their The par is a small fish, not unlike the smelt, throats to be cut.-Their prince Vitikind fled for which it rivals in delicacy and flavour. shelter to Gotric king of Denmark. ANTISTROPHE. The Saxon prince in horrour fled In safety to the bleak Norwegian shore. And his broad shoulders brav'd the furious He stopt: he gaz'd; his bosom glow'd, And straight compress'd her in his vig'rous arms. The curlieu scream'd, the Tritons blew The light he saw in Albion's happy plains, He flourish'd bold and sinewy as his sire; ANTISTROPHE. Accomplished thus, he wing'd his way, STROPHÉ. Arabia's scorching sands he cross'd', To Freedom's adamantine shrine; And many a Tartar hord forlorn, aghast 6! Even now he stands on Calvi's rocky shore, My lips by him chastis'd to truth, Those sculptur'd halls my feet shall never tread, STROPHE, In Fortune's car behold that minion ride, And warm with patriot thoughts the aspiring In vengeance hang a damp on every scene, soul. On desert isles2 it was he that rais'd Those spires that gild the Adriatic wave, Where Tyranny beheld amaz'd Shook from the baleful pinions of Disgust. Nature I'll court in her sequester'd haunts Fair Freedom's temple, where he mark'd her By mountain, meadow, streamlet, grove, or cell, Where the poised lark his evening ditty chaunts, 5 The Arabs, rather than resign their independency, have often abandoned their habitations, and encountered all the horrours of the desert. 6 From the tyranny of Jenghis-Khan, Timur. Bec, and other eastern conquerors, whole tribes of Tartars were used to fly into the remoter wastes of Cathay, where no army could follow them. The noble stand made by Paschal Paoli and his associates against the usurpations of the French king, must endear them to all the sons of liberty and independence. OBSERVATIONS ON THE ODE TO INDEPENDENCE. White-mantled Innocence, ethereal sprite, OBSERVATIONS ON DR. SMOLLETT'S ODE TO INDEPENDENCE. 589 The poet, full of enthusiasm and admiration, continues his prosopopeia; and, in a strain of poetry exceedingly wild and romantic, gives us the genealogy of Independence. "A goddess violated brought thee forth, Immortal Liberty, whose look sublime Hath bleach'd the tyrant's cheek in every varying clime." According to the acceptation of our author, liberty means the security of our lives and possessions, and freedom from external force: inde LYRIC poetry imitates violent and ardent passions. It is therefore bold, various, and impetuous. It abounds with animated sentiments, glow-pendence is of higher import, and denotes that ing images, and forms of speech often unusual, but commonly nervous and expressive. The composition and arrangement of parts may often appear disordered, and the transitions sudden and obscure; but they are always natural, and are governed by the movements and variations of the imitated passion. The foregoing ode will illustrate these observations. The introduction is poetical and abrupt. "Thy spirit, Independence, let me share! Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye, Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare, Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky." The picture exhibited in these lines is striking, because the circumstances are happily chosen, briefly, and distinctly delineated. It is sublime, because the images are few, and in themselves great and magnificent. The "lion-heart and eagle-eye" suggest an idea of the high spirit and commanding aspect of Independence: and the poet following with "bosom bare" denotes, in a picturesque manner, the eagerness and enthusiasm of the votary. The last circumstance is peculiarly happy. "Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky." It marks the scene: it is unexpected, and excites surprise: it is great and awful, and excites astonishment. Combined with the preceding circumstance, it conveys a beautiful allegorical meaning; and signifies that a mind truly independent is superior to adversity, and unmoved by external accidents. We may observe too, in regard to the diction, that the notions of sound and motion communicated by the words " howl" and " along," contribute, in a peculiar manner, to the sublimity of the description. "Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye, Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare, Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky." These lines are written in the true spirit of lyric poetry. Without preparing the mind by a cool artificial introduction, rising gradually to the impetuosity of passion, they assail the imagination by an abrupt and sudden impulse; they vibrate through the soul, and fire us instantaneously with all the ardour and enthusiasm of the poet. Many of the odes of Horace are composed in the same spirit, and produce similar effects. Without any previous argument or introduction, in the fulness of passion and imagination, he breaks out in bold, powerful, and impetuous figures. Quo me, Bacche, rapis, tui Plenum? Quæ nemora aut quos agor in specus Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem internal sense and consciousness of freedom which beget magnanimity, fortitude, and that becoming pride which leads us to respect ourselves, and do nothing unworthy of our condition. Liberty therefore is, with perfect propriety, said to be the mother of Independence, and Disdain his fatherDisdain arising from indignation against an oppressor, and triumph on having frustrated or escaped his malice. This stern personage is strongly characterized in the following direct description. "Of ample front the portly chief appear'd: The hunted bear supply'd a shaggy vest; The drifted snow hung on his yellow beard; And his broad shoulders braved the furious blast." they may be secure in their persons and possesMen may enjoy liberty without independence: sions, without feeling any uncommon elevation of mind, or any sense of their freedom. But if their liberty is attacked, they are alarmed, they feel the value of their condition, they are moved with indignation against their oppressors, they exert the danger that threatened them, they triumph, themselves, and if they are successful, or escape they reflect on the happiness and dignity conferred by freedom, they applaud themselves for their exertions, become magnanimous and independent. There is therefore no less propriety in deducing the origin of Independence from Disdain and Liberty, than in fixing the era of his birth. The Saxons, according to our author, free, simple, and inoffensive, were attacked, escaped the violence of their adversary, reflected on the felicity of their condition, and learned independence. The education of Independence, and the scene of his nativity, are suited to his illustrious lineage, and to the high achievements for which he was destined. "The light he saw in Albion's happy plains, The auspicious fruit of stol'n embrace was born- merous. Independence thus descended, and thus divinely instructed and endowed, distinguishes himself accordingly by heroic and beneficent actions. "Accomplish'd thus, he winged his way, And zealous rov'd from pole to pole, The rolls of right eternal to display, And warm with patriot thoughts the aspiring soul." The ode may be divided into three parts. The poet sets out with a brief address to Independence, imploring his protection. He sees, in idea, the high object of his adoration, and transported by an ardent and irresistible impulse, he rehearses his birth, education, and qualities. He proceeds, in the second place, to celebrate his office and most renowned achievements; and returns, at the end of the third strophe, to acknowledge with gratitude the protection he had requested, and the power of Independence in preserving him untainted by the debasing influences of grandeur, and the admiration of vain magnificence. Animated with this reflection, and conscious of the dignity annexed to an independent state of mind, he inveighs against those "minions of Fortune" who would impose upon mankind by the ostentation of wealth, and the parade of pageantry. "In Fortune's car behold that minion ride, With either India's glittering spoils opprest: So moves the sumpter-mule, in harness'd pride, In the last antistrophe the poet descends from his enthusiasm; he is less impetuous; the illustrious passions that animated and impelled him are exhausted; but they leave his mind full of their genuine and benign influences, not agitated and disordered, as if their tendency had been vicious, but glowing with self-approbation, soft, gentle and composed. |