Of Lyric And as they oft had heard apart In lightnings own'd his secret stings; And swept with hurried hand the strings. With woeful measures wan Despair Low sullen sounds his grief beguil'd; A solemn, strange, and mingled air; 'Twas sad by fits, by starts 'twas wild. But thou, O Hope! with eyes so fair, She call'd on Echo still through all her song; A soft responsive voice was heard at every close, And Hope enchanted smil'd, and wav'd her golden hair.. And longer had she sung ;-but, with a frown, Revenge impatient rose; He threw his blood-stain'd sword in thunder down, The war-denouncing trumpet took, And blew a blast so loud and dread, Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe. And ever and anon he beat The doubling drum with furious heat; And though sometimes, each dreary pause between, Dejected Pity at his side Her soul-subduing voice applied, Yet still he kept his wild unalter'd mien, While each strain'd ball of sight seem'd bursting from his head. Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fix'd, Of differing themes the veering song was mix'd; And now it courted Love, now raving call'd on Hate.. With eyes up-rais'd, as one inspir'd, Pale Melancholy sat retir'd, And from her wild sequester'd seat, Pour'd through the mellow horn her pensive soul, Through glades and glooms the mingled measure stole, Love of peace, and lonely musing, In hollow murmurs died away. But O! how alter'd was its sprightlier tone! Her buskins gemm'd with morning dew, Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung, And Sport leapt up, and seiz'd his beechen spear. Last came Joy's ecstatic trial; First to the lively pipe his hand addrest, To some unwearied minstrel dancing, Love fram'd with Mirth a gay fantastic round: Loose were her tresses seen, her zone unbound: And he amidst his frolic play, As if he would the charming air repay, O music sphere-descended maid, We shall conclude this section, and these examples, with Gray's Progress of Poesy, which, in spite of the severity of Johnson's criticism, certainly ranks high among the odes which pretend to sublimity. The first stanza, when examined by the frigid rules of grammatical criticism, is certainly not faultless: but its faults will be overlooked by every reader who has any portion of the author's fervour: Of Lyric Poetry. of Lyric Thro' verdant vales, and Ceres' golden reign : Poetry. Now rolling down the steep amain, Headlong, impetuous, see it pour : The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar. Oh! Sovereign of the willing soul, And frantic passions, hear thy soft controul. And dropp'd his thirsty lance at thy command. Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feather'd king The terror of his beak, and lightnings of his eye. I. 3. Thee the voice, the dance, obey, Temper'd to thy warbled lay: O'er Idalia's velvet green The rosy-crowned loves are seen. On Cytherea's day, With antic sports, and blue-ey'd pleasures, Slow melting strains their queen's approach declare : The bloom of young desire, and purple light of love. II. I. Man's feeble race what ills await: And death, sad refuge from the storms of fate! Say, has he giv'n in vain the heav'nly muse? Her spectres wan, and birds of boding cry, Hyperion's march they spy, and glittʼring shafts of war. In climes beyond the solar road, Where shaggy forms o'er ice-built mountains roam, To cheer the shiv'ring native's dull abode. O Chili's boundless forests laid, She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat, In loose numbers wildly sweet, Their feather-cinctur'd chiefs, and dusky loves. Th' unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame. 11. 3. Woods, that wave o'er Delphi's steep, Isles, that crown the Ægean deep, 5 Fields, that cool Ilissus laves, Till the sad nine, in Greece's evil hour, They sought, oh Albion! next thy sea encircled coast. Far from the sun, and summer-gale, In thy green lap was nature's darling laid, To him the mighty mother did unveil This pencil take (she said) whose colours clear Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy! Of horror that, and thrilling fears, Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears. III. 2. Nor second bet, that rode sublime Upon the seraph wings of ecstacy, The secrets of th' abyss to spy. He pass'd the flaming bounds of place and time : Where angels tremble while they gaze, He saw: but, blasted with excess of light, Clos'd his eyes in endless night. Behold, where Dryden's less presumptuous car, Wide o'er the fields of glory bear Two coursers of ethereal race, With necks in thunder cloth'd, and long-resounding pace. III. 3. Hark, his hands the lyre explore! Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. Oh! Lyre divine, what daring spirit Yet shall be mount, and keep his distant way Beneath the good how far-but far above the great, SECT. III. Of the Elegy. Of Lyric Poetry. #Shake speare. + Milton. 133 THE Elegy is a mournful and plaintive, but yet sweet The elegy. and engaging, kind of poem. It was first invented to bewail With timely care I'll sow my little field, And plant my orchard with its master's hand; Nor blush to spread the hay, the hook to wield, Or range my sheaves along the sunny land. If late at dusk, while carelessly I roam, Elegy. bewail the death of a friend; and afterwards used to express the complaints of lovers, or any other melancholy subject. In process of time, not only matters of grief, but joy, wishes, prayers, expostulations, reproaches, admonitions, and almost every other subject, were admitted into elegy; however, funeral lamentations and affairs of love seem most agreeable to its character, which is gentleness and tenuity. 134 How to be made. The plaintive elegy, in mournful state, Dishevell❜d weeps the stern decrees of fate : And always pine, and fondly hug their chain; [From the French of Despreux.] SOAMES. The plan of an elegy, as indeed of all other poems, ought to be made before a line is written; or else the author will ramble in the dark, and his verses have no dependence on each other. No epigrammatic points or conceits, none of those fine things which most people are so fond of in every sort of poem, can be allowed in this, but must give place to nobler beauties, those of nature and the passions. Elegy rejects whatever is facetious, satirical, or majestic, and is content to be plain, decent, and unaffected; yet in this humble state is she sweet and engaging, elegant and attractive. This poem is adorned with frequent commiserations, complaints, exclamations, addresses to things or persons, short and proper digressions, allusions, comparisons, prosopopœcias or feigned persons, and sometimes with short descriptions. The diction ought to be made free from any harshness; neat, easy, perspicuous, expressive of the manners, tender, and pathetic; and the numbers should be smooth and flowing, and captivate the ear with their uniform sweetness and delicacy. Of elegies on the subject of death, that by Mr Gray, written in a country churchyard, is one of the best that has appeared in our language, and may be justly esteemed a masterpiece. But being so generally known, it would be superfluous to insert it here. On the subject of love, we shall give an example from the elegies of Mr Hammond. Let others boast their heaps of shining gold, And view their fields with waving plenty crown'd, Whom neighb'ring foes in constant terror hold, And trumpets break their slumbers, never sound: While, calmly poor, I trifle life away, Enjoy sweet leisure by my cheerful fire, But cheaply bless'd I'll scorn each vain desire. I meet a strolling kid or bleating lamb, And clasp a fearful mistress to my breast? By shady rivers indolently stray, To stop and gaze on DELIA as I go! Could float and wander with ambition's wind, And, if his outward trappings spoke him blest, Not heed the sickness of his conscious mind. With her I scorn the idle breath of praise, Nor trust to happiness that's not our own; The smile of fortune might suspicion raise, But here I know that I am lov'd alone. STANHOPE, in wisdom as in wit divine, May rise and plead Britannia's glorious cause, With steady rein his eager wit confine, While manly sense the deep attention draws. Let STANHOPE speak his list'ning country's wrong, My humble voice shall please one partial maid; For her alone I pen my tender song, Securely sitting in his friendly shade. STANHOPE shall come, and grace his rural friend; DELIA shall wonder at her noble guest, With blushing awe the riper fruit commend, And for her husband's patron cull the best. Her's be the care of all my little train, While I with tender indolence am blest, The favourite subject of her gentle reign, By love alone distinguish'd from the rest. In gloomy forests tend my lonely flock, And far from her 'midst tasteless grandeur weep, DELIA alone can please and never tire, Exceed the paint of thought in true delight; To charm the fancy, and to fix the mind; On Elegy. On her I'll gaze when others loves are o'er, Nor can that gentle breast the thought withstand. Oh! when I die, my latest moments spare, Nor let thy grief with sharper torments kill : Wound not thy cheeks, nor hurt that flowing hair; Tho' I am dead, my soul shall love thee still. Oh quit the room, oh quit the deathful bed, Or thou wilt die, so tender is thy heart! Oh leave me, DELIA! ere thou see me dead, These weeping friends will do thy mournful part. Let them, extended on the decent bier, Convey the corse in melancholy state, Thro' all the village spread the tender tear, While pitying maids our wond'rous love relate. SECT. IV. Of the Pastoral. THIS poem takes its name from the Latin word pastor, a "shepherd;" the subject of it being something in the pastoral or rural life; and the persons, interlocutors, introduced in it, either shepherds or other rustics. These poems are frequently called eclogues, which signifies "select or choice pieces;" though some account for this name in a different manner. They are also called bucolics, from Bgxodos, 66 a herdsman." This kind of poem, when happily executed, gives great delight; nor is it a wonder, since innocence and simplicity generally please: to which let us add, that the scenes of pastorals are usually laid in the country, where both poet and painter have abundant matter for the exercise of genius, such as enchanting prospects, purling streams, shady groves, enamelled meads, flowery lawns, rural amusements, the bleating of flocks, and the music of birds; which is of all melody the most sweet and pleasing, and calls to our mind the wisdom and taste of Alexander, who, on being importuned to hear a man that imitated the notes of the nightingale, and was thought a great curiosity, replied, that he had had the happiness of hearing the nightingale herself. The character of the pastoral consists in simplicity, brevity, and delicacy; the two first render an eclogue natural, and the last delightful. With respect to nature, indeed, we are to consider, that as a pastoral is an image of the ancient times of innocence and undesigning plainness, we are not to describe shepherds as they really are at this day, but as they may be conceived then to have been, when the best of men, and even princes, followed the employment. For this reason, an air of piety should run through the whole poem; which is visible in the writings of antiquity. To make it natural with respect to the present age, some knowledge in rural affairs should be discovered, and that in such a manner as if it was done by chance rather than by design; lest by too much pains to seem natural, that simplicity be destroyed from whence arises the delight; for what is so engaging in this kind of poesy proceeds not so much from the idea of a country life itself, as in exposing only the best part of a shepherd's life, and concealing the misfortunes and miseries which sometimes attend it. Besides, the subject must contain some particular beauty in itself, and each eclogue present a scene or prospect to our view enriched with variety which variety is in a great measure obtained Pastoral by frequent comparisons drawn from the most agreeable objects of the country; by interrogations to things inanimate; by short and beautiful digressions; and by elegant turns on the words, which render the numbers more sweet and pleasing. To this let us add, that the connections must be negligent, the narrations and descriptions short, and the periods concise. Riddles, parables, proverbs, antique phrases, and superstitious fables, are fit materials to be intermixed with this kind of poem. They are here, when properly applied, very ornamental; and the more so, as they give our modern compositions the air of the ancient manner of writing. 135 The style of the pastoral ought to be humble, yet style. pure; neat, but not florid; easy, and yet lively: and the numbers should be smooth and flowing. This poem in general should be short, and ought never much to exceed 100 lines; for we are to consider that the ancients made these sort of compositions their amusement, and not their business: but however short they are, every eclogue must contain a plot or fable, which must be simple and one; but yet so managed as to admit of short digressions. Virgil has always observed this.. We shall give the plot or argument of his first pastoral as an example. Melibus, an unfortunate shepherd, is introduced with Tityrus, one in more fortunate circumstances; the former addresses the complaint of his sufferings and banishment to the latter, who enjoys his flocks and folds in the midst of the public calamity, and therefore expresses his gratitude to the benefactor from whom this favour flowed: but Melibus accuses fortune, civil wars, and bids adieu to his native country. This is therefore a dialogue. But we are to observe, that the poet is not always obliged to make his eclogue allegorical, and to have real persons represented by the fictitious characters introduced; but is in this respect entirely at his own liberty. Nor does the nature of the poem require it to be always carried on by way of dialogue; for a shepherd may with propriety sing the praises of his love, complain of her inconstancy, lament her absence, ber death, &c. and address himself to groves, hills, rivers, and and such like rural objects, even when alone. We shall now give an example from each of those authors who have eminently distinguished themselves by this manner of writing, and introduce them in the order of time in which they were written. 139 storal from Theocritus, who was the father or inventor of this Examples kind of poetry, has been deservedly esteemed by the of the pa best critics; and by some, whose judgment we cannot Theocritus dispute, preferred to all other pastoral writers, with perhaps the single exception of the tender and delicate Gesner. We shall insert his third idyllium, not because it is the best, but because it is within our compass. To Amaryllis, lovely nymph, I speed, } Where Pastoral. Where in my folding arms you lay reclin'd? Blest was the shepherd, for the nymph was kind. And with his brothers nurst him in the wild; Your chang'd affection, for it gave no sound, Hippomenes, prov k'd by noble strife, ; The bright temptation caus'd the nymph to stay; She look'd, she languish'd, all her soul took fire, She plung'd into the gulf of deep desire. To Pyle from Othrys sage Melampus came, He drove the lowing herd, yet won the dame; } Fair Pero blest his brother Bias' arms, And sea-born Venus lov'd the rural swain; My head grows giddy, love affects me sore; my last, } FAWKES. Pastoral. 140 Virgil succeeds Theocritus, from whom he has in Virgil. some places copied, and always imitated with success. As a specimen of his manner, we shall introduce his first pastoral, which is generally allowed to be the most perfect. MELIBŒEUS and TITYRUS. Mel. Beneath the shade which beechen boughs diffuse, Tit. These blessings, friend, a deity bestow' He gave me kine to graze the flow'ry plain, Mel. I envy not your fortune; but admire, } Tit. Fool that I was, I thought imperial Rome Like Mantua, where on market-days we come, And thither drive our tender lambs from home. So kids and whelps the sires and dams express; And so the great I measur'd by the less: But country towns, compar'd with her, appear Like shrubs when lofty cypresses are near. Mel. What great occasion call'd you hence to Rome? Tit. Freedom, which came at length, tho' slow to Nor come: Ca |