Exact my own defects to scan, What others are to feel, and know myself a Man. Ver. 47. Exact my own defects to scan.] The many hard consonants which occur in this line hurt the ear; Mr. Gray perceived it himself, but did not alter it, as the words themselves were those which best conveyed his idea, and therefore he did not choose to sacrifice sense to sound.-MASON. In an Ode to Disappointment, by the late lamented H. Kirk White, there are several passages obviously taken from the Poem before us. AWAKE, Æolian lyre, awake, And give to rapture all thy trembling strings. a When the author first published this and the following Ode, he was advised, even by his friends, to subjoin some few explanatory notes; but had too much respect for the understanding of his readers to take that liberty.—GRAY. Mr. Gray found himself obliged to alter this determination, as some, who pretended to criticise, had begun by blundering in the first line, and mistook the Æolian lyre for the harp of Æolus. See Critical Review, vol. iv. p. 167. This error called for the note which follows below. Ver. 1. Awake, Æolian lyre, awake.] IMITATION. "Awake, my glory: awake, lute and harp.” In his manuscript it originally stood, David's Ps.-GRAY. Awake, my lyre: my glory, wake. And it would have been lucky for the above-mentioned critics, if it had been thus printed.-MASON. From Helicon's harmonious springs A thousand rills their mazy progress take: 5 Pindar styles his own poetry, with its musical accompaniments, Αιολις μολπη, Αιολιδες χορδαι, Αιολιδων πνοαι αυλων, Æolian song, Æolian strings, the breath of the Æolian flute.GRAY. Ver. 3. From Helicon's harmonious springs.] The subject and simile, as usual with Pindar, are united. The various sources of poetry, which gives life and lustre to all it touches, are here described; its quiet majestic progress enriching every subject (otherwise dry and barren) with a pomp of diction and luxuriant harmony of numbers; and its more rapid and irresistible course, when swoln and hurried away by the conflict of tumultuous passions.-GRAY. Ver. 5. The laughing flowers that round them blow.] Mr. Mitford has here from Petronius, cap. 127. Albaque de viridi riserunt lilia prato :" and from Achilles Tatius; « Το πεταλον τῳ ζεφυρῳ γελα.” The metaphors which have been drawn by different poets from laughter are remarkable, perhaps above all others, for their boldness and variety. The Psalmist makes the vallies to laugh and sing with plenty and Æschylus, Prom. Vinct. 90. calls the bright dimpling of the waves beneath the sun : Ανηριθμον γελασμα.” Ver. 6. Drink life and fragrance as they flow.] 66 'Irriguumque bibant violaria fontem." Virg. Georg. iv. 32.-WAKEFIELD. Ver. 7. Now the rich stream of music winds along.] A resemblance has been pointed out, by Dr. Berdmore of the Charterhouse, between this passage and the following from Horace : Through verdant vales, and Ceres' golden reign: Headlong, impetuous, see it pour : 10 The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar. I. 2. Oh! Sovereign of the willing soul, Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, And frantic Passions hear thy soft controul. "Quod adest, memento Componere æquus: Cætera fluminis In mare, nunc lapides adesos, Stirpesque raptas, et pecus, et domos 15 Clamore, vicinæque silvæ." Lib. iii. Od. xxix. 32. Ver. 8. Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong.] "While in more lengthen'd notes, and slow, The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow." Pope's Cecilia.-WAKEFIELD. Ver. 12. The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar.] Gray seems in his rapture to confound the images of spreading sound and running water. A "stream of music" may be allowed; but where does music, however" smooth and strong," after having visited the "verdant vales," roll down" the steep amain," so as that " rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar." If this be said of music, it is nonsense; if it be said of water, it is nothing to the purpose.-JOHNSON. Ver. 13. Oh! Sovereign of the willing soul.] Power of harmony to calm the turbulent sallies of the soul. The thoughts are borrowed from the first Pythian of Pindar.-Gray. On Thracia's hills the Lord of War Has curb'd the fury of his car, And dropt his thirsty lance at thy command. 20 Quorundam discutiendæ tristes cogitationes: ad quod symphoniæ, et cymbala, strepitusque proficiunt." Cels. de Med. iii. 18.- -And so in the Old Testament, "Saul's evil spirit of melancholy was soothed by the lyre of David. "A solemn air, and the best comforter To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains." Tempest, v. iii.-WAKEFIELD. Ver. 20. Perching on the sceptred hand.] 66 EV δει δ' ανα σκαπτῳ Διος αιετος, ως θεν χαλάξαις, Αρχος οιωνων κελαινω πιν δ' επι οἱ νεφελαν Αγκυλῳ κρατι, γλεφαρων Αδυ κλαιστρον, κατέχευας. ὁ δε κνώσσων Υγρον νωτον αιωρεί, τεαις Ριπαισι κατασχομενος. και γαρ βια τας Αρης, τραχειαν ανευθε λιπων Εγχεων ακμαν, ιαινει καρδιαν Κωματι.” Pind. Pyth. i. 9. This description of the bird of Jupiter, Mr. Gray, in his own edition, modestly calls "a weak imitation of some incomparable lines in the first Pythian of Pindar;" but if they are compared with Mr. Gilbert West's translation of the above lines, (though far from a bad one,) their superior energy to his version will appear very conspicuous. "Perch'd on the sceptre of the Olympian king The thrilling darts of harmony he feels; And indolently hangs his rapid wing, While gentle sleep his closing eyelid seals |