Till the fad Nine, in Greece's evil hour,
Left their Parnaffus, for the Latian plains.
Alike they scorn the pomp of tyrant-power,
And coward Vice, that revels in her chains.
When Latium had her lofty spirit loft,

They fought, oh Albion! next thy fea-encircled coaft.

III. I.

Far from the fun and fummer-gale,

*

In thy green lap was Nature's darling laid,

What time, where lucid Avon ftray'd,

To him the mighty mother did unveil
Her awful face: The dauntless child
Stretch'd forth his little arms, and fmil'd.
This pencil take (fhe faid) whofe colours clear
Richly paint the vernal year:

Thine too thefe golden keys, immortal boy!
This can unlock the gates of Joy;

Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears,

Or ope the facred fource of fympathetic Tears.

TH. 2.

Nor fecond he †, that rode fublime

Upon the feraph-wings of Extafy,

The fecrets of th' abyfs to spy.

He pafs'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time:

* Shakespeare.

+ Milton.

I

Aammantia moenia mundi." LUCRETIUS.

The

The living throne, the fapphire-blaze, Where Angels tremble, while they gaze,

He faw; but, blasted with excess of light,
+ Clos'd his eyes in endless night.

Behold, where Dryden's lefs presumptuous car,
Wide o'er the fields of Glory bear

Two courfers of ethereal racę,

§ With necks in thunder cloath'd, and long-resound

ing pace.

Hark, his hands the lyre explore! Bright-ey'd, Fancy hovering o'er Scatters from her pictur'd urn

Thoughts, that breathe, and words, that burn. ** But ah ! 'tis heard no more→→→

For the fpirit of the living creature was in the wheels-And above the firmament, that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a fapphire-ftone.-This was the appearance of the glory of the Lord. Ezekiel i. 20, 26, 28.

† Οφθαλμῶν μὲν ἄμερσε· δίδυ δ ̓ ἡδεῖαν ἀοιδήν. Hon.OD. Meant to exprefs the stately march and founding energy of Dryden's rhymes.

§ Haft thou cloathed his neck with thunder? Job.

Words, that weep, and tears, that fpeak. Cowley. ** We have had, in our language, no other odes of the fublime kind, than that of Dryden on St. Cecilia'sday: for Cowley (who had his merit) yet wanted judgement, style, and harmony, for fuch a task. That of Pope is not worthy of fo great a man. Mr. Mafon, indeed, of late days, has touched the true chords, and with a masterly hand, in fome of his Chorufes-above all, in the laft of Caractacus,

Hark! heard ye not yon footstep dread? &c.

Oh!

Oh lyre divine, what daring fpirit
Wakes thee now? though he inherit
Nor the pride, nor ample pinion,
That the Theban eagle bear
Sailing with fupreme dominion
Through the azure deep of air:

Yet oft before his infant eyes would run
Such forms, as glitter in the Mufe's ray
With orient hues, unborrow'd of the fun':
Yet shall he mount, and keep his diftant way
Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate,

Beneath the good how far but far above the great.

•Aids πpos oprixa delov. Olymp. 2. Pindar compares himself to that bird, and his enemies to ravens that croak and clamour in vain below, while it purfues its flight, regardless of their noife.

THE

THE

B

A R D.

A PINDARICO DE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following Ode is founded on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the Firft, when he compleated the conqueft of that country, ordered all the Bards, that fell into his hands, to be put to death.

t

I. 1.

UIN feize thee, ruthless king!

R Confufion on thy banners wait,

Though, fann'd by Conqueft's crimson wing,

• * They mock the air with idle state.
Helm, nor thauberk's twifted mail,

Nor e'en thy virtues, tyrant, fhall avail
To fave thy fecret foul from nightly fears,
From Cambria's curfe, from Cambria's tears !"

Mocking the air with colours idly spread.

Shakespeare's King John.. + The hauberk was a texture of fteel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail, that fat clofe to the body, and adapted itself to every motion.

Such

Such were the founds, that o'er the * crefted pride
Of the first Edward scatter'd wild dismay,

As down the steep of

Snowdon's shaggy side

He wound-with toilsome march his long array.

Stout Glo'fter stood aghaft in speechlefs trance:

To arms cried § Mortimer, and couch'd his quivering

lance.

I. 2.

On a rock, whofe haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, Rob'd in the fable garb of woe,

With haggard eyes the Poet flood; (|| Loose his beard, and hoary hair

** Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air)

-The crefted adder's pride. Dryden's Indian Queen. + Snowdon was a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous tract, which the Welth themselves call Craigian-eryri: it included all the highlands of Caernarvonshire and Merionethfhire, as far east as the river Conway. R. Hygden, fpeaking of the caftle of Conway, built by King Edward the firft, fays, "ortum amnis Conway ad clivum montis Erery;" and Matthew of Westminster, (ad ann. 1283,) “ Apud "Aberconway ad pedes montis Snowdonia fecit erigi caftrum forte."

"Ad

Gilbert de Clare, furnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, fon-in-law to King Edward. § Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore. They both were Lords-Marchers, whofe lands lay on the borders of Wales, and probably accompanied the king in this expedition.

The image was taken from a well-known picture of Raphaël, reprefenting the Supreme Being in the vifion of Ezekiel there are two of thefe paintings (both believed original,) one at Florence, the other at Paris-j ** ́Shone, like a meteor, ftreaming to the wind.

Milton's Paradife Loft.

And