XV.

BRYAN AND PEREENE,

A WEST-INDIAN BALLAD,

is founded on a real fact, that happened in the island of St. Christophers about the beginning of the present reign. The editor owes the following stanzas to the friendship of Dr. James Grainger,* who was an eminent physician in that island when this tragical incident happened, and died there much honoured and lamented in 1767. To this ingenious gentleman the public are indebted for the fine "Ode on Solitude," printed in the ivth Vol. of Dodsley's Miscel. p. 229, in which are assembled some of the sublimest images in nature. The reader will pardon the insertion of the first stanza here, for the sake of rectifying the two last lines, which were thus given by the Author:

"O Solitude, romantic maid,

Whether by nodding towers you tread,
Or haunt the desart's trackless gloom,
Or hover o'er the yawning tomb,
Or climb the Andes' clifted side,
Or by the Nile's coy source abide,
Or starting from your half-year's sleep,
From Hecla view the thawing deep,
Or at the purple dawn of day

Tadmor's marble wastes survey, &c.

alluding to the account of Palmyra published by some late ingenious travellers, and the manner in which they were struck at the first sight of those magnificent ruins by break of day.t

THE north-east wind did briskly blow,
The ship was safely moor'd;

Young Bryan thought the boat's-crew slow,

And so leapt over-board.

*Author of a poem on the Culture of the "Sugar-Cane," &c. published by Messrs. Wood & Dawkins.

+ So in pag. 235. it should be, "Turn'd her magic ray."

Pereene, the pride of Indian dames,
His heart long held in thrall;
And whoso his impatience blames,
I wot, ne'er lov'd at all.

A long long year, one month and day,
He dwelt on English land,

Nor once in thought or deed would stray,
Tho' ladies sought his hand.

For Bryan he was tall and strong,
Right blythsome roll'd his een,

10

Sweet was his voice whene'er he sung,
He scant had twenty seen.

15

But who the countless charms can draw,
That grac'd his mistress true;

Such charms the old world seldom saw,

Nor oft I ween the new.

20

Her raven hair plays round her neck,
Like tendrils of the vine;

Her cheeks red dewy rose buds deck,
Her eyes like diamonds shine.

Soon as his well-known ship she spied,
She cast her weeds away,

25

And to the palmy shore she hied,

All in her best array.

In sea-green silk so neatly clad,

She there impatient stood;

30

The crew with wonder saw the lad
Repell the foaming flood.

Her hands a handkerchief display'd,
Which he at parting gave;
Well pleas'd the token he survey'd,
And manlier beat the wave.

Her fair companions one and all,
Rejoicing crowd the strand;
For now her lover swam in call,
And almost touch'd the land.

35

40

Then through the white surf did she haste,
To clasp her lovely swain;

When, ah! a shark bit through his waste :
His heart's blood dy'd the main !

He shriek'd! his half sprang from the wave,
Streaming with purple gore,

And soon it found a living grave,

And ah! was seen no more.

Now haste, now haste, ye maids, I pray,
Fetch water from the spring:

She falls, she swoons, she dies away,

And soon her knell they ring.

Now each May morning round her tomb
Ye fair, fresh flowerets strew,

So may your lovers scape his doom,
Her hapless fate scape you.

XVI.

GENTLE RIVER, GENTLE RIVER,

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH.

45

50

55

ALTHOUGH the English are remarkable for the number and variety of their ancient Ballads, and retain perhaps a greater fondness for these old simple rhapsodies of their ancestors, than most other nations; they are not the only people who have distinguished themselves by compositions of this kind. The Spaniards have great multitudes of them, many of which are of the highest merit. They call them in their language Romances, and have collected them into volumes under the titles of El Romancero, El Cancionero, * &c. Most of them relate to their conflicts with the Moors, and display a spirit of gallantry peculiar to that romantic people. But of all the Spanish ballads none exceed in poetical merit those inserted in a little

i. e. The ballad-singer.

Spanish "History of the civil wars of Granada," describing the dissensions which raged in that last seat of Moorish empire before it was conquered in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1491. In this History (or perhaps Romance) a great number of heroic songs are inserted and appealed to as authentic vouchers for the truth of facts. In reality, the prose narrative seems to be drawn up for no other end, but to introduce and illustrate those beautiful pieces.

The Spanish editor pretends (how truly I know not) that they are translations from the Arabic or Morisco language. Indeed, from the plain unadorned nature of the verse, and the native simplicity of the language and sentiment, which runs through these poems, one would judge them to have been composed soon after the conquest of Granada* above mentioned; as the prose narrative in which they are inserted was published about a century after. It should seem, at least, that they were written before the Castillians had formed themselves so generally, as they have done since, on the model of the Tuscan poets, or had imported from Italy that fondness for conceit and refinement, which has for near two centuries past so much infected the Spanish poetry, and rendered it so frequently affected and obscure.

As a specimen of the ancient Spanish manner, which very much resembles that of our old English Bards and Minstrels, the Reader is desired candidly to accept the two following poems. They are given from a small collection of pieces of this kind, which the editor some years ago translated for his amusement when he was studying the Spanish language. As the first is a pretty close translation, to gratify the curious it is accompanied with the original. The Metre is the same in all these old Spanish ballads: it is of the most simple construction, and is still used by the common people in their extemporaneous songs, as we learn from Baretti's Travels. It runs in short stanzas of four lines, of which the second and fourth alone correspond in their terminations; and in these it is only required that the vowels should be alike, the consonants may be altogether different, as

Yet has this kind of verse a sort of simple harmonious flow, which atones for the imperfect nature of the rhyme, and renders it not unpleasing to the ear. The same flow of numbers has been studied in the following versions. The first of them is

* See Vol. iii. p. 6, Note.

given from two different originals, both of which are printed in the "Hist. de las civiles guerras de Granada." Mad. 1694. One of them hath the rhymes ending in aa, the other in ia. It is the former of these that is here reprinted. They both of them begin with the same line:

"Rio verde, rio verde,"*

which could not be translated faithfully;

"Verdant river, verdant river,"

would have given an affected stiffness to the verse; the great merit of which is easy simplicity; and therefore a more simple epithet was adopted, though less poetical or expressive.

*Literally, "Green river, green river." Rio Verde is said to be the name of a River in Spain: which ought to have been attended to by the Translator had he known it.