Is hard and hoar; crystalline dew congeal'd Hath tipt the spiry grass; the waters, bound In sluggish ice, transparency have lost; No flock is bleating on the rigid lawn,
No rural pipe attunes th' inclement air; No youths and damsels trip the choral round Beneath bare oaks, whose frost-incrusted boughs Drop chilling shadows; icicles invest
The banks of rills, which, grating harsh in strife With winter's fetters, to their dreary sides
In the following, also, there is much suavity of versification, as well as great beauty of local description:
"In native windings from his Lydian fount As various flow'd Meander, here along A level champaign, daisy-painted meads, Or golden fields of Ceres, here through woods In green arcades projecting o'er his banks, There shut in rock, which irritates the stream, Here by low hamlets, there by stately towns, Till he attained the rich Magnesian seat; Thence with augmented fame and prouder floods Roll'd down his plenteous tribute to the main : So through the mazes of his fortune winds In artless eloquence th' expressive strain Of Haliartus, from his peasant state
This is, also, a most highly poetical night-piece; the scene of which lies between the two hostile camps of Greece and Persia.
"The Sun was set; th' unnumber'd eyes of Heav'n
Thin clouds envelop'd; dusky was the veil
Of night, not sable; placid was the air;
The low-ton'd current of Asopus held No other motion than his native flow, Alluring Aristides in a walk Contemplative to pace the stable verge Attir'd in moss. The hostile camp he views, Which by Masistius' vigilance and art With walls of wood and turrets was secur'd. For this the groves of Jupiter supreme On Hypatus were spoil'd, Teumessian brows,
Mesabius, Parnes, were uncover'd all. Square was th' enclosure, ev'ry face emblaz'd With order'd lights. Each elevated tent Of princely satraps, and, surmounting all, Mardonius, thine, from coronets of lamps Shot lustre, soft'ning on the distant edge Of wide Plataan fields. A din confus'd, Proclaim'd barbarians; silent was the camp Of Greece."
The beauty of the following landscape is of so fine an order, as almost to make us repent of our characterization of Glover's feelings for the beauties of nature, as in some sort suburban:
"Silver Phoebe spreads
A light, reposing on the quiet lake, Save where the snowy rival of her hue, The gliding Swan, behind him leaves a trail In luminous vibration.* Lo! an isle
* Mr. Wordsworth most probably had his eye on the first lines of the above obscure quotation, in composing the following lovely and majestic passage. We do not mean to compare the two extracts; for it will be observed, that the Swan of Glover is only one object among many, lightly touched off in the landscape, though with a pen of real genius; while the noble "creature" of the other poet is an elaborate and finished picture.
"Fair is the swan, whose majesty prevailing O'er breezeless water, on Locarno's lake, Bears him on, while proudly sailing He leaves behind a moon-illumin'd wake: Behold! the mantling spirit of reserve Fashions his neck into a goodly curve; An arch thrown back between luxuriant wings Of whitest garniture, like fir-tree boughs To which, on some unruffled morning, clings A flaky weight of winter's purest snows! Behold! as with a gushing impulse, heaves That downy prow, and softly cleayes The mirror of the crystal flood,
Vanish inverted hill, and shadowy wood, And pendant rocks, where'er, in gliding state, Winds the mute creature without visible mate Or rival, save the Queen of night
Swells on the surface. Marble structures there New gloss of beauty borrow from the Moon To deck the shore. Now silence gently yields To measur'd strokes of oars. The orange groves, In rich profusion round the fertile verge, Impart to fanning breezes fresh perfumes Exhaustless, visiting the sense with sweets, Which soften ev'n Briareus; but the son Of Gobryas, heavy with devouring care, Uncharm'd, unheeding sits."
The whole description of Mardonius' visit to the cave of Trophonius, is, also, admirably executed, and contains much of that species of local painting in which Glover excels.
Mardonius determinates to consult the oracle; he is told,
"Rueful is the mode
Of consultation, though from peril free:"
he, however, perseveres; and we shall begin our extract with his navigation down the Cephissus, in search of the cave. We would gladly introduce the whole episode, if our limits did not forbid. Against the influx of Cephissus, down
Lebadian vales in limpid flow convey'd,
The rowers now are lab'ring. O'er their heads Huge alders weave their canopies, and shed Disparted moonlight through the lattic'd boughs; Where Zephyr plays, and whisp'ring motion breathes Among the pliant leaves. Now roseate tints. Begin to streak the orient verge of Heav'n, Foretok'ning day. The son of Gobryas lands, Where in soft murmur down a channell❜d slope The stream Hercyna, from Trophonian groves, Fresh bubbling meets Cephissus. He ascends
Showering down a silver light
From heaven, upon her chosen favorite."
Indeed, this piece of glorious poetic beauty seems compounded, with a few additional and exquisite touches of the poet's own, of the passage in Glover, and that in Milton on this favoured bird:
"The swan with arched neck
Between her white wings mantling, proudly rows
Her state with oary feet."- -Seventh Book, Par. Lost.
With all his train. Th' enclosure, which begirds The holy purlieus, through a portal hung With double valves on obelisks of stone, Access afforded to the steps of none But suppliants. Hegesistratus accosts
One in pontific vesture station'd there."
Mardonius is admitted alone, and conducted by the priest into a dome, where the gloomy chief' bows before the statue of a 'genius good,' whose lineaments recal his lost Masistius forcibly to his recollection: an incident, which gives occasion to an address in a tender vein of poetry, but which we must pass over. Forsaking the dome,
"Along Hercyna's bank they now proceed, To where the river parts. One channel holds A sluggish, creeping water, under vaults Of ebon shade, and soporific yew, The growth of ages on the level line Of either joyless verge. The satrap here, Nam'd and presented by his former guide, A second priest receives, conductor new Through night-resembling shadows, which obscure The sleepy stream, unmoving to the sight, Or moving mute."
After drinking of the Lethean fount, they proceed: "Ascending thence, a mazy walk they tread, Where all the Season's florid children show Their gorgeous raiment, and their odours breathe Unspent; while musical in murmur flows
Fast down a deep declivity of bed
Hercyna, winding in a channel new,
Apparent often to the glancing eye
Through apertures, which pierce the loaden boughs
Of golden fruit Hesperian, and th' attire
Of myrtles green, o'ershadowing the banks.
In alabaster's variegated hues,
To bound the pleasing avenue, a fane
Its symmetry discover'd on a plat,
Thick-set with roses, which a circling skreen
Of that fair ash, where cluster'd berries glow, From ruffling gusts defended."
After undergoing a variety of ceremonies; at length, "Fresh from ablution, lo! Mardonius comes
In linen vesture, fine and white, as down Of Paphian doves. A sash of tincture bright, Which rivall'd Flora's brilliancy of dye, Engirds his loins; majestical his brows A wreath sustain; Lebadian sandals ease His steps. Exchanging thus his martial guise, Like some immortal, of a gentler mould
Than Mars, he moves. So Phoebus, when he sets, Lav'd by the nymphs of Tethys in their grot Of coral after his diurnal toil,
Repairs his splendours, and his rosy track Of morn resumes."
"Next through a winding cavity and vast He guides the prince along a mossy vault, Rough with protuberant and tortuous roots Of ancient woods, which, clothing all above, In depth shoot downward equal to their height; Suspended lamps, with livid glimpse and faint, Direct their darkling passage. Now they reach The further mouth unclosing in a dale
Abrupt; there shadow, never-fleeting, rests. Rude-featur'd crags, o'erhanging, thence expel The blaze of noon. Beneath a frowning cliff A native arch, of altitude which tempts The soaring eagle to construct his nest, Expands before an excavation deep, Unbowelling the hill. On either side This gate of nature, hoary sons of time, Enlarg❜d by ages to protentous growth, Impenetrable yews augment the gloom.
In height two cubits, on the rocky floor A parapet was rais'd of marble white, In circular dimension; this upholds The weight of polish'd obelisks, by zones Of brass connected, ornamental fence. A wicket opens to th' advancing prince; Steps moveable th' attentive priest supplies; By whom instructed, to the awful chasm Below, profound but narrow, where the god His inspiration breathes, th' intrepid son His nether limbs Up to the loins he plunges. Downward drawn, As by a whirlpool of some rapid flood,
Of Gobryas firm descends.
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