Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm; The following lines, though they contain a sentiment similar to that in the text, yet more closely resemble those in the Ode to Spring : "And what will then become of all Those whom now you servants call? Like swallows, when their summer's done, T. Carew's Poems. Ver. 71. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows.] Magnificence of Richard the Second's reign.-See Froissard, and other contemporary writers.-GRAY. It is always entertaining, and sometimes useful, to be informed how a writer frequently improves on his original thoughts; on this account I have occasionally set down the few variations which Mr. Gray made in his lyrical compositions. The six lines before us convey, perhaps, the most beautiful piece of imagery in the whole Ode, and were a wonderful improvement on those which he first wrote; which, though they would appear fine in an inferior poet, are infinitely below those which supplanted them. I find them in one of his corrected manuscripts as follow: "Mirrors of Saxon truth and loyalty, Your helpless old expiring master view! They hear not scarce Religion dares supply Her muttered requiems, and her holy dew. Yet thou, proud boy, from Pomfret's walls shall send A sigh, and envy oft thy happy grandsire's end.” MASON. For similar imagery the reader may refer to Milton's Samson Agonistes, 710. to Shakspeare's Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 6. and Spenser's Vision of Petrarch, ii, Regardless of the sweeping Whirlwind's sway, 75 That, hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening prey." II. 3. "Fill high the sparkling bowl, The rich repast prepare, Ver. 75. Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway.] See the Fragment on Education and Government: "And when the Deluge burst with sweepy sway." Ver. 76. That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey.] This representation of the whirlwind, under the image of a beast of prey lying in ambush in the day-time, expectant of the night, is not only perfectly just and natural, but incomparably sublime.—WAKEFIELD. Ver. 77. Fill high the sparkling bowl.] Richard the Second (as we are told by Archbishop Scroop and the confederate lords in their manifesto, by Thomas of Walsingham, and all the older writers) was starved to death. The story of his assassination, by Sir Piers of Exon, is of much later date.-GRAY. This stanza (as an ingenious friend remarks) has exceeding merit. It breathes in a lesser compass, what the Ode breathes at large, the high spirit of lyric enthusiasm. The transitions are sudden and impetuous; the language full of fire and force; and the imagery carried, without impropriety, to the most daring height. The manner of Richard's death by famine exhibits such beauties of personification, as only the richest and most vivid imagination could supply. From thence we are hurried, with the wildest rapidity, into the midst of battle'; and the epithet kindred places at once before our eyes all the peculiar horrors of civil war. Immediately, by a transition most striking and unexpected, the poet falls into a tender and pathetic address; which, from the sentiments, and also from the numbers, has all the melancholy flow, and breathes all the plaintive soft Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast: Close by the regal chair Fell Thirst and Famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest. Heard ye the din of battle bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse? 80 Long years of havoc urge their destined course, 85 And through the kindred squadrons mow their way. ness, of Elegy. Again the scene changes; again the Bard rises into an allegorical description of carnage, to which the metre is admirably adapted: and the concluding sentence of personal punishment on Edward is denounced with a solemnity, that chills and terrifies.-MASON. The similarity of this passage to the following lines of Virgil, Æn. vi. 603. could not escape the author of " Specimens of Literary Resemblances." -" Lucent genialibus altis Aurea fulcra toris, epulæque ante ora parate Accubat, et manibus prohibet contingere mensas, Exsurgitque facem attollens, atque intonat ore." Ver. 82. A baleful smile upon their baffled guest.] What can exceed the terrible sublimity of this picture? and what is at all worthy to be put in competition with it, except that of Milton, which our author seems to have had in view? "He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased; and Death Grinn'd horrible, a ghastly smile.” Par. Lost, ii. 845. In Newton's edition the reader may see, that Homer, Statius, Cowley, Ariosto, and Tasso, have a similar beauty, not equal to this of Milton.-WAKEFIELD. Ver. 83. Heard ye the din of battle bray.] Ruinous wars of York and Lancaster.-GRAY. Tower of Loudou POEMS. Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed, Revere his consort's faith, his father's fame, And spare the meek usurper's holy head! Above, below, the rose of snow, Twined with her blushing foe, we spread: The bristled Boar in infant gore Wallows beneath the thorny shade. 59 90 Ver. 87. Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame.] Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæsar.-GRAY. Ver. 89. Revere his consort's faith.] Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown.-GRAY. -His father's fame.] Henry the Fifth.-GRAY. Ver. 90. And spare the meek usurper's holy head.] Henry the Sixth, very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown.-GRAY. Ver. 91. Above, below, the rose of snow.] The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster.-GRAY. Ver. 93. The bristled Boar in infant gore.] The silver boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of the bour.-GRAY. The crest, or bearing of a warrior was often used as a nom de guerre." Thus Richard the Third acquired his well-known epithet" the Boar of York." See notes to Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel, p. 300. Mr. Mitford, who cites the above note in this place, quotes also the following lines from the Mirror for Magistrates: "At Stonie Stratford being upon my way, The bloodie bore my uncle that did aime." See page 740.. Now, brothers, bending o'er th' accursed loom, 95 Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom.” III. 1. "Edward, lo! to sudden fate (Weave we the woof. The thread is spun.) Half of thy heart we consecrate. (The web is wove. The work is done.) Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unbless'd, unpitied, here to mourn: In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, 100 But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height Descending slow, their glittering skirts unroll? 106 Visions of glory, spare my aching sight, Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul! No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail. All hail, ye genuine Kings! Britannia's issue, hail!" Ver. 99. Half of thy heart we consecrate.] Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her lord is well known. The monuments of his regret and sorrow for the loss of her, are still to be seen at Northampton, Gaddington, Waltham, and other places.-GRAY. Ver. 102. Leave me unbless'd, unpitied, here to mourn.] "Leave your despairing Caradoc to mourn." See Letter xxxvi. Sect. 3. Ver. 109. No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail.] It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairyland, and should return again to reign over Britain.-GRAY. |