insinuated itself into my Religious Musings with such intricacy of union, that sometimes I have omitted to disentangle the weed from the fear of snapping the flower. A third and heavier accusation has been brought against me, that of obscurity; but not, I think, with equal justice. An Author is obscure, when his conceptions are dim and imperfect, and his language incorrect, or unappropriate, or involved. A poem that abounds in allusions, like the Bard of Gray, or one that impersonates high and abstract truths, like Collins's Ode on the poetical character, claims not to be popular-but should be acquitted of obscurity. The deficiency is in the Reader. But this is a charge which every poet, whose imagination is warm and rapid, must expect from his contemporaries. Milton did not escape it; and it was adduced with virulence against Gray and Collins. We now hear no more of it not that their poems are better understood at present, than they were at their first publication; but their fame is established; and a critic would accuse himself of frigidity or inattention, who should profess not to understand them. But a living writer is yet sub judice; and if we cannot follow his conceptions or enter into his feelings, it is more consoling to our pride to consider him as lost beneath, than as soaring above us. If any man expect from my poems the same easiness of style which he admires in a drinking-song, for him I have not written. Intelligibilia, non intellectum adfero.
I expect neither profit or general fame by my writings; and I consider myself as having been amply repaid without either. Poetry has been to me its own • exceeding great reward :>> it has soothed my afflictions; it has multiplied and refined my enjoyments; it has endeared solitude: and it has given the habit of wishing to discover the Good and the Beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.
MAID of my Love, sweet Genevieve! In beauty's light you glide along: Your eye is like the star of eve, And sweet your voice, as seraph's song. Yet not your heavenly beauty gives This heart with passion soft to glow: Within your soul a voice there lives! It bids you hear the tale of woe. When sinking low the sufferer wan Beholds no hand outstretch'd to save, Fair, as the bosom of the swan That rises graceful o'er the wave, I've seen your breast with pity heave, And therefore love I you, sweet Genevieve!
TO THE AUTUMNAL MOON.
MILD Splendour of the various-vested Night! Mother of wildly-working visions! hail! 1 watch thy gliding, while with watery light Thy weak eye glimmers through a fleecy veil;
And when thou lovest thy pale orb to shroud Behind the gathered blackness lost on high; And when thou dartest from the wind-rent cloud Thy placid lightning o'er the awaken'd sky. Ah such is Hope! as changeful and as fair! Now dimly peering on the wistful sight; Now hid behind the dragon-wing'd Despair: But soon emerging in her radiant might, She o'er the sorrow-clouded breast of Care Sails, like a meteor kindling in its flight.
TIME, REAL AND IMAGINARY.
On the wide level of a mountain's head (I knew not where, but 't was some faery place) Their pinions, ostrich-like, for sails outspread, Two lovely children run an endless race,
A sister and a brother!
This far outstript the other; Yet ever runs she with reverted face, And looks and listens for the boy behind: For he, alas! is blind!
O'er rough and smooth with even step he pass'd, And knows not whether he be first or last.
MONODY ON THE DEATH OF CHATTERTON.
O WHAT A wonder seems the fear of death, Seeing how gladly we all sink to sleep, Babes, Children, Youths and Men, Night following night for threescore years and ten! But doubly strange, where life is but a breath To sigh and pant with, up Want's rugged steep.
Away, Grim Phantom! Scorpion King, away! Reserve thy terrors and thy stings display For coward Wealth and Guilt in robes of state! Lo! by the grave I stand of one, for whom A prodigal Nature and a niggard Doom (That all bestowing, this withholding all) Made each chance knell from distant spire or dome Sound like a seeking Mother's anxious call, Return, poor Child! Home, weary Truant home!
Thee, Chatterton! these unblest stones protect From want, and the bleek freezings of neglect. Too long before the vexing Storm-blast driven Here hast thou found repose! beneath this sod! Thou! O vain word! thou dwell'st not with the clod! Amid the shining Host of the Forgiven Thou at the throne of Mercy and thy God The triumph of redeeming Love dost hymn (Believe it, O my soul!) to harps of Seraphim.
Yet oft, perforce ('t is suffering Nature's call), I weep, that heaven-born Genius so shall fall; And oft, in Fancy's saddest hour, my soul Averted shudders at the poison'd bowl.
Now groans my sickening heart, as still I view
Thy corse of livid hue;
Now indignation checks the feeble sigh,
Or flashes through the tear that glistens in mine eye!
Sublime of thought, and confident of fame,
From vales where Avon winds, the Minstrel1 came.
Light-hearted youth! aye, as he hastes along, He meditates the future song,
How dauntless Ælla fray'd the Dacyan foe; And while the numbers flowing strong In eddies whirl, in surges throng,
Exulting in the spirits' genial throe
In tides of power his life-blood seems to flow.
And now his cheeks with deeper ardors flame, His eyes have glorious meanings, that declare More than the light of outward day shines there, A holier triumph and a sterner aim! Wings grow within him; and he soars above Or Bard's, or Minstrel's lay of war or love. Friend to the friendless, to the Sufferer health, He hears the widow's prayer, the good man's praise; To scenes of bliss transmutes his fancied wealth, And young and old shall now see happy days. On many a waste he bids trim gardens rise, Gives the blue sky to many a prisoner's eyes; And now in wrath he grasps the patriot steel, And her own iron rod he makes Oppression feel.
Sweet Flower of Hope! free Nature's genial child! That didst so fair disclose thy early bloom, Filling the wide air with a rich perfume! For thee in vain all heavenly aspects smiled; From the hard world brief respite could they win- The frost nipp'd sharp without, the canker prey'd within! Ah! where are fled the charms of vernal Grace, And Joy's wild gleams that lightened o'er thy face? Youth of tumultuous soul, and haggard eye! Thy wasted form, thy hurried steps I view, On thy wan forehead starts the lethal dew, And oh! the anguish of that shuddering sigh!
Such were the struggles of the gloomy hour, When Care, of wither'd brow, Prepared the poison's death-cold power: Already to thy lips was raised the bowl, When near thee stood Affection meek (Her bosom bare, and wildly pale her cheek), Thy sullen gaze she bade thee roll On scenes that well might melt thy soul; Thy native cot she flash'd upon thy view, Thy native cot, where still, at close of day, Peace smiling sate, and listen'd to thy lay; Thy Sister's shrieks she bade thee hear, And mark thy Mother's thrilling tear;
See, see her breast's convulsive throe, Her silent agony of woe!
Ah! dash the poison'd chalice from thy hand!
1 Avon, a river near Bristol; the birth-place of Chatterton.
And thou hadst dash'd it, at her soft command,
But that Despair and Indignation rose,
And told again the story of thy woes;
Told the keen insult of the unfeeling heart; The dread dependence on the low-born mind; Told every pang, with which thy soul must smart, Neglect, and grinning Scorn, and Want combined! Recoiling quick, thou bad'st the friend of pain Roll the black tide of Death through every freezing vein!
Ye woods! that wave o'er Avon's rocky steep, To Fancy's ear sweet is your murmuring deep! For here she loves the cypress wreath to weave Watching, with wistful eye, the saddening tints of eve. Here, far from men, amid this pathless grove, In solemn thought the Minstrel wont to rove, Like star-beam on the slow sequester'd tide Lone-glittering, through the high tree branching wide. And here, in Inspiration's eager hour, When most the big soul feels the mastering power,
These wilds, these caverns roaming o'er, Round which the screaming sea-gulls soar,
With wild unequal steps he pass'd along, Oft pouring on the winds a broken song: Anon, upon some rough rock's fearful brow Would pause abrupt-and gaze upon the waves below.
Poor Chatterton! he sorrows for thy fate
Who would have praised and loved thee, ere too late. Poor Chatterton! farewell! of darkest hues This chaplet cast 1 on thy unshaped tomb; But dare no longer on the sad theme muse, Lest kindred woes persuade a kindred doom: For oh! big gall-drops, shook from Folly's wing, Have blacken'd the fair promise of my spring; And the stern Fate transpierced with viewless dart The last pale Hope that shiver'd at my heart!
Hence, gloomy thoughts! no more my soul shall dwell On joys that were! No more endure to weigh The shame and anguish of the evil day, Wisely forgetful! O'er the ocean swell Sublime of Hope I seek the cottaged dell, Where Virtue calm with careless step may stray; And, dancing to the moon-light roundelay, The wizard Passions weave a holy spell!
O Chatterton! that thou wert yet alive! Sure thou wouldst spread the canvas to the gale, And love, with us the tinkling team to drive O'er peaceful Freedom's undivided dale; And we, at sober eve, would round thee throng, Hanging, enraptured, on thy stately song! And greet with smiles the young-eyed Poesy All deftly mask'd, as hoar Antiquity.
Alas vain Phantasies! the fleeting brood Of Woe self-solaced in her dreamy mood! Yet will I love to follow the sweet dream, Where Susquehannah pours his untamed stream; And on some hill, whose forest-frowning side Waves o'er the murmurs of his calmer tide, Will raise a solemn Cenotaph to thee, Sweet Harper of time-shrouded Minstrelsy! And there, soothed sadly by the dirgeful wind, Muse on the sore ills I had left behind.
The Pixies, in the superstition of Devonshire, are a race of beings invisibly small, and harmless or friendly to man. At a small distance from a village in that county, half way up a wood-covered hill, is an excavation called the Pixies' Parlour. The roots of old trees form its ceiling; and on its sides are innumerable cyphers, among which the author discovered his own cypher and those of his brothers, cut by the hand of their childhood. At the foot of the hill flows the river Otter.
To this place the Author conducted a party of young Ladies, during the Summer months of the year 1793; one of whom, of stature elegantly small, and of complexion colourless yet clear, was proclaimed the Faery Queen. On which occasion the following Irregular Ode was written.
WHOM the untaught Shepherds call Pixies in their madrigal, Fancy's children, here we dwell: Welcome, Ladies! to our cell. Here the wren of softest note
Builds its nest and warbles well; Here the blackbird strains his throat; Welcome, Ladies! to our cell.
When fades the moon all shadowy-pale And scuds the cloud before the gale, Ere Morn with living gems bedight Purples the East with streaky light, We sip the furze-flower's fragrant dews, Clad in robes of rainbow hues: Or sport amid the rosy gleam Soothed by the distant-tinkling team, While lusty Labour scouting sorrow Bids the Dame a glad good-morrow, Who jogs the accustom'd road along, And paces cheery to her cheering song-
But not our filmy pinion
We scorch amid the blaze of day, When Noontide's fiery-tressed minion Flashes the fervid ray.
Aye from the sultry heat We to the cave retreat
O'ercanopied by huge roots intertwined With wildest texture, blacken'd o'er with age: Round them their mantle green the ivies bind,
Beneath whose foliage pale, Fann'd by the unfrequent gale,
We shield us from the Tyrant's mid-day rage.
Thither, while the murmuring throng Of wild-bees hum their drowsy song, By Indolence and Fancy brought, A youthful Bard, unknown to Fame, Wooes the Queen of Solemn Thought,
And heaves the gentle misery of a sigh, Gazing with tearful eye,
As round our sandy grot appear Many a rudely sculptured name To pensive Memory dear! Weaving gay dreams of sunny-tinctured huc We glance before his view:
O'er his hush'd soul our soothing witcheries shed, And twine our faery garlands round his head.
When Evening's dusky car, Crown'd with her dewy star,
Steals o'er the fading sky in shadowy flight, On leaves of aspen trees We tremble to the breeze,
Veiled from the grosser ken of mortal sight. Or, haply, at the visionary hour, Along our wildly-bower'd sequester'd walk, We listen to the enamour'd rustic's talk; Heave with the heavings of the maiden's breast, Where young-eyed Loves have built their turtle nest;
Or guide of soul-subduing power The electric flash, that from the melting eye Darts the fond question and the soft reply.
Or through the mystic ringlets of the vale We flash our faery feet in gamesome prank; Or, silent-sandal'd, pay our defter court Circling the Spirit of the Western Gale, Where wearied with his flower-caressing sport, Supine he slumbers on a violet bank; Then with quaint music hymn the parting gleam By lonely Otter's sleep-persuading stream; Or where his wave with loud unquiet song Dash'd o'er the rocky channel froth along; Or where, his silver waters smoothed to rest, The tall tree's shadow sleeps upon his breast.
Hence thou lingerer, Light! Eve saddens into Night.
Mother of wildly-working dreams! we view The sombre hours, that round thee stand With down-cast eyes (a duteous band)! Their dark robes dripping with the heavy dew. Sorceress of the ebon throne! Thy power the Pixies own, When round thy raven brow Heaven's lucent roses glow,
And clouds in watery colours drest, Float in light drapery o'er thy sable vest: What time the pale moon sheds a softer day, Mellowing the woods beneath its pensive beam: For 'mid the quivering light 't is ours to play, Aye dancing to the cadence of the stream.
Welcome, Ladies! to the cell
Where the blameless Pixies dwell:
But thou, sweet Nymph! proclaim'd our Faery Queen,
With what obeisance meet Thy presence shall we greet?
For lo! attendant on thy steps are seen Graceful Ease in artless stole, And white-robed Purity of soul, With Honour's softer mien; Mirth of the loosely-flowing hair,
And meek-eyed Pity eloquently fair, Whose tearful cheeks are lovely to the view, As snow-drop wet with dew.
Unboastful Maid! though now the Lily pale Transparent grace thy beauties meek; Yet ere again along the empurpling vale, The purpling vale and elfin-haunted grove, Young Zephyr his fresh flowers profusely throws,
We 'll tinge with livelier hues thy cheek; And, haply, from the nectar-breathing Rose Extract a Blush for Love!
A CHRISTMAS TALE, TOLD BY A SCHOOL-BOY TO HIS LITTLE BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
UNDERNEATH a huge oak tree
There was, of swine, a huge company, That grunted as they crunch'd the mast: For that was ripe, and fell full fast.
Then they trotted away, for the wind grew high: One acorn they left, and no more might you spy. Next came a raven, that liked not such folly: He belong'd, they did say, to the witch Melancholy! Blacker was he than blackest jet,
Flew low in the rain, and his feathers not wet. He pick'd up the acorn and buried it straight By the side of a river both deep and great. Where then did the Raven go? He went high and low,
Over hill, over dale, did the black Raven go. Many Autumns, many Springs Travell'd he with wandering wings: Many Summers, many Winters- I can't tell half his adventures.
At length he came back, and with him a She, And the acorn was grown to a tall oak tree. They built them a nest in the topmost bough, And young ones they had, and were happy enow. But soon came a woodman in leathern guise, His brow, like a pent-house, hung over his eyes. He'd an axe in his hand, not a word he spoke, But with many a hem! and a sturdy stroke, At length he brought down the poor Raven's own oak. His young ones were kill'd; for they could not depart, And their mother did die of a broken heart.
The boughs from the trunk the woodman did sever; And they floated it down on the course of the river. They saw'd it in planks, and its bark they did strip, And with this tree and others they made a good ship. The ship it was launch'd; but in sight of the land Such a storm there did rise as no ship could withstand. It bulged on a rock, and the waves rush'd in fast: The old Raven flew round and round, and caw'd to the
He heard the last shriek of the perishing souls- See! see! o'er the topmast the mad water rolls! Right glad was the Raven, and off he went fleet, And Death riding home on a cloud he did meet, And he thank'd him again and again for this treat: They had taken his all, and Revenge was sweet!
A FAREWELL ODE ON QUITTING SCHOOL FOR JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
WHERE graced with many a classic spoil Cam rolls his reverend stream along, I haste to urge the learnad toil That sternly chides my love-lorn song: Ah me! too mindful of the days Illumed hy Passion's orient rays, When Peace, and Cheerfulness, and Health Enrich'd me with the best of wealth.
Ah fair delights! that o'er my soul On Memory's wing, like shadows fly! Ah Flowers! which Joy from Eden stole While Innocence stood smiling by!- But cease, fond heart! this bootless moan: Those hours on rapid pinions flown Shall yet return, by Absence crown'd, And scatter livelier roses round.
The Sun who ne'er remits his fires On heedless eyes may pour the day: The Moon, that oft from heaven retires, Endears her renovated ray. What though she leaves the sky unblest To mourn awhile in murky vest? When she relumes her lovely light, We bless the wanderer of the night.
LINES ON AN AUTUMNAL EVENING.
O THOU, wild Fancy, check thy wing! No more Those thin white flakes, those purple clouds explore! Nor there with happy spirits speed thy flight Bathed in rich amber-glowing floods of light; Nor in yon gleam, where slow descends the day, With western peasants hail the morning ray! Ah! rather bid the perish'd pleasures move, A shadowy train, across the soul of Love! O'er Disappointment's wintry desert fling Each flower that wreathed the dewy locks of Spring, When blushing, like a bride, from Hope's trim bower She leapt, awaken'd by the pattering shower. Now sheds the sinking Sun a deeper gleam, Aid, lovely Sorceress! aid thy poet's dream! With faery wand O bid the Maid arise, Chaste Joyance dancing in her bright-blue eyes; As erst when from the Muses' calm abode I came, with Learning's meed not unbestow'd; When as she twined a laurel round my brow, And met my kiss, and half return'd my vow, O'er all my frame shot rapid my thrill'd heart, And every nerve confess'd th' electric dart.
O dear deceit! I see the Maiden rise, Chaste Joyance dancing in her bright-blue eyes! When first the lark, high soaring, swells his throat, Mocks the tired eye, and scatters the wild note, I trace her footsteps on the accustom'd lawn, I mark her glancing mid the gleam of dawn. When the bent flower beneath the night-dew weeps And on the lake the silver lustre sleeps,
Amid the paly radiance soft and sad, She meets my lonely path in moon-beams clad. With her along the streamlet's brink I rove; With her I list the warblings of the grove; And seems in each low wind her voice to float, Lone-whispering Pity in each soothing note!
Spirits of Love! ye heard her name! obey The powerful spell, and to my haunt repair. Whether on clustering pinions ye are there, Where rich snows blossom on the myrtle trees, Or with fond languishment around my fair Sigh in the loose luxuriance of her hair; O heed the spell, and hither wing your way, Like far-off music, voyaging the breeze!
Spirits! to you the infant Maid was given, Form'd by the wonderous alchemy of heaven! No fairer maid does Love's wide empire know, No fairer maid e'er heaved the bosom's snow. A thousand Loves around her forehead fly; A thousand Loves sit melting in her eye; Love lights her smile-in Joy's red nectar dips His myrtle flower, and plants it on her lips. She speaks! and hark that passion-warbled song- Still, Fancy! still that voice, those notes prolong, As sweet as when that voice with rapturous falls Shall wake the soften'd echoes of Heaven's halls!
O (have I sigh'd) were mine the wizard's rod, Or mine the power of Proteus, changeful god! A flower-entangled arbour I would seem
To shield my Love from noontide's sultry beam: Or bloom a Myrtle, from whose odorous boughs My love might weave gay garlands for her brows. When twilight stole across the fading vale, To fan my love I'd be the Evening Gale; Mourn in the soft folds of her swelling vest, And flutter my faint pinions on her breast! On Seraph wing I'd float a Dream by night, To soothe my Love with shadows of delight :- Or soar aloft to be the Spangled Skies,
And gaze upon her with a thousand eyes!
As when the Savage, who his drowsy frame Had bask'd beneath the Sun's unclouded flame, Awakes amid the troubles of the air, The skiey deluge, and white lightning's glare- Aghast he scours before the tempest's sweep, And sad recalls the sunny hour of sleep :- So tossed by storms along Life's wildering way, Mine eye reverted views that cloudless day, When by my native brook I wont to rove, While Hope with kisses nursed the Infant Love.
Dear native brook! like Peace, so placidly Smoothing through fertile fields thy current meek! Dear native brook! where first young Poesy Stared wildly-eager in her noontide dream! Where blameless pleasures dimple Quiet's cheek, As water-lilies ripple thy slow stream! Dear native haunts! where Virtue still is gay, Where Friendship's fix'd star sheds a mellow'd ray, Where Love a crown of thornless Roses wears, Where soften'd Sorrow smiles within her tears;
And Memory, with a Vestal's chaste employ, Unceasing feeds the lambent flame of joy! No more your sky-larks melting from the sight Shall thrill the attuned heart-string with delight- No more shall deck your pensive Pleasures sweet With wreaths of sober hue my evening seat. Yet dear to Fancy's eye your varied scene Of wood, hill, dale, and sparkling brook between! Yet sweet to Fancy's ear the warbled song, That soars on Morning's wing your vales among.
Scenes of my Hope! the aching eye ye leave, Like yon bright hues that paint the clouds of eve! Tearful and saddening with the sadden'd blaze Mine eye the gleam pursues with wistful gaze, Sees shades on shades with deeper tint impend, Till chill and damp the moonless night descend.
As late each flower that sweetest blows I pluck'd, the Garden's pride! Within the petals of a Rose
A sleeping Love I spied.
Around his brows a beamy wreath Of many a lucent hue;
All purple glow'd his cheek, beneath, Inebriate with dew.
I softly seized the unguarded Power, Nor scared his balmy rest;
And placed him, caged within the flower, On spotless Sara's breast.
But when unweeting of the guile Awoke the prisoner sweet,
He struggled to escape awhile, And stamp'd his faery feet.
Ah! soon the soul-entrancing sight Subdued the impatient boy!
He gazed! he thrill'd with deep delight! Then clapp'd his wings for joy.
• And O! he cried. Of magic kind What charm this Throne endear! Some other Love let Venus find- I'll fix my empire here.>>>
ONE kiss, dear Maid! I said and sigh'd- Your scorn the little boon denied. Ah why refuse the blameless bliss? Can danger lurk within a kiss?
Yon viewless Wanderer of the vale, The Spirit of the Western Gale, At Morning's break, at Evening's close Inhales the sweetness of the Rose, And hovers o'er the uninjured bloom Sighing back the soft perfume. Vigour to the Zephyr's wing Her nectar-breathing kisses fling;
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