The redbreast oft,' at evening hours, Each lonely scene shall thee restore; Collins. TO MAY.2 THOUGH Many suns have risen and set Earth, sea, thy presence feel-nor less, With its soft smile the truth express, The heavens have felt it too. And eyes that cannot but be sad (1) The redbreast, &c.-It is thought that Gray was indebted to this stanza for the lines in the "Elegy" (see p. 65) beginning "There scattered oft," &c. (2) Among the many beautiful poems of the same author, there is not perhaps a more finished composition than this-not one more noticeable for the "curiosa felicitas"-that "grace beyond the reach of art," which evinces the perfect mastery of the artist. Since thy return, through days and weeks The old, by thee revived, have said, And wayworn wanderers, poorly fed, Who tripping lisps a merry song But now, when every sharp-edged blast His mother leaves him free to taste Lo! streams that April could not check How delicate the leafy veil Through which yon House of God By few but shepherds trod! And lowly huts, near beaten ways, In thy fresh wreaths, than they for praise Season of fancy and of hope, A blossom from thy crown to drop, (1) Gurgling, &c.-In one line of this couplet we may almost hear the " gling," and in the other almost feel the stillness, of the water. gur (2) Curling, &c.-One of those "felicities" of phrase alluded to in the first note. Keep, lovely May,' as if by touch Of self-restraining art, This modest charm of not too much, Part seen, imagined part! Wordsworth. THE POET. AGES elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared, And charms the woodland scenes, and wilds unknown, But seldom (as if fearful of expense) (1) Keep lovely May, &c.-The most satisfactory test of superlative excellence, in point of composition, of such lines as this and the following, would be afforded by the attempt to improve them by the alteration, or addition of even a single word. The success of Horace himself in such an endeavour would have been extremely doubtful. (2) Mantuan swan-Virgil, so called because he was born at Mantua, in Italy. A particular species of swans had the reputation among the ancients of singing very beautifully-hence poets were figuratively styled swans. (3)" Colours dipt in heaven "—an expression borrowed from "Paradise Lost." A soul exalted above earth; a mind 'MORAL MAXIMS, EPIGRAMS, &c. I. LIVE WHILE YOU LIVE 1 "LIVE while you live," the epicure would say, II. LINES UNDER MILTON'S PORTRAIT. THREE poets in three distant III. HOPE. THE wretch, condemned with life to part, And every pang that rends the heart Bids expectation2 rise. Cowper. Doddridge. Dryden. (1) Dr. Johnson has pronounced this epigram the finest in the language. (2) Expectation-is here employed in precisely the same sense as hope; for the distinction between them, see note 1, p. 203. Hope, like the1 glimmering taper's light, And still, as darker grows the night, Goldsmith. IV. LINES WRITTEN BY LORD BYRON IN HIS BIBLE.2 WITHIN this awful volume lies V. VIGOUR OF MIND. Walter Scott.. THE wise and active conquer difficulties VI. SKATING. O'ER crackling ice, o'er gulfs profound, O'er treacherous pleasure's flowery ground, VII. GUARD THE TONGUE. IF thou wishest to be wise, Rowe. Dr. Johnson. Keep these words before thine eyes :— (1) Like the, &c.-It is scarcely necessary to point out the singular beauty of this stanza," which," as Mr. Montgomery has remarked, "like the taper itself, grows clearer and brighter the more it is contemplated." (2) These lines may be found in one of Sir Walter Scott's tales; their application to a worthier subject is said to be originally due to Lord Byron, as above stated. |