Et vada fœmineis insidiosa sonis ; Pérque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro 75 Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges. 80 Diis etenim sacer est vates, divûmque sacerdos ; Dona quidem dedimus Christi Natalibus illa, Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis, 86 was the daughter of the Sun, and, as some say, of Hecate. Ovid, Metam. vii. 74. "Hecates Perseidos aras." And Remed. Amor. 263. "Quid tibi profuerunt, Circe, Perseidos herbæ ?" And Ovid mentions Circe's aula, Metam. xiv. 45. Ver. 78. Spirat et occultum &c.] Claudian, Rapt. Pros. i. 6. "totum spirant præcordia Phoebum." RICHARDSON. Ver. 88. Illa sub auroram &c.] See the close of Mr. Warton's note, Eleg. v. 6. And compare, as the late Mr. Headley remarked, Hor. Epist. II. i. 112. " prius orto "Sole, vigil calamum et chartas et scrinia posco." Todd. Ver. 89. Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis,] His English Ode on the Nativity. This he means to submit to Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris*. Deodate's inspection. poetry." T. Warton. 90 "You shall next have some of my English Ver. 90. Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris.] In Comus, I suppose the simple "shepherd lad," skilled in plants, to be the same Charles Deodate, to whom this Elegy is addressed, v. 619. For, as here, "He lov'd me well, and oft would beg me sing; "Would sit and hearken even to extasy," &c. See Ovid, Epist. Pont.iv. ii. 37. "Hic, mea cui recitem,” &c. Again, Trist. iv. 1. 18. "Sed neque cui recitem," &c. T. WARTON. There is a very poetical description in Brown's Brit. Pastorals, B. ii. S. iv. ed. 1616, p. 88, where the poet begs his friend to delight him with his musick, and hearkens even to extasy, as in Comus, v. 623, &c. "As in an euening, when the gentle ayre "Breathes to the sullen night a soft repayre, "I oft have set on Thames' sweet bancke to heare My Friend with his sweet touch to charme mine eare; "I woud haue been content, if he would play, "In that one straine to passe the night away." Todd. * The transitions and connections of this Elegy, are conducted with the skill and address of a master, and form a train of allusions and digressions, productive of fine sentiment and poetry. From a trifling and unimportant circumstance, the reader is gradually led to great and lofty imagery. I will give a short and hasty analysis. "You have well described in your verses the merriments of Christmas. But why do you insinuate that your poetry is weakened by feasting and wine? Bacchus loves poetry. And Phebus is not ashamed to decorate his brows with ivy-berries. Even the Muses, mixed with Bacchanalian dames, have joined in their shouts on mount Parnassus. The worst of Ovid's poetry, is that which he sent from Scythia, where never vine was planted. What were Anacreon's subjects but the grape and roses? Every page of Pindar is redolent of wine; while the broken axle-tree of the prostrate chariot resounds, and the rider flies dark with. the dust of Elis. It is when warmed with the mellow cask, that Horace sweetly chants his Glycere, and his yellow-haired Chloe. Your genius has therefore been invigorated rather than depressed by mirth. You have been sacrificing to Bacchus, Apollo, and Ceres. No wonder your verses are so charming, which have been dictated by three deities. Even now you are listening to the harp, which regulates the dance, and guides the steps of the virgin in a tapestried chamber. At least give way to this milder relaxation. Such scenes infuse poetick warmth. Hence Elegy frames her tenderest song. Nor is it only by Bacchus and Ceres that Elegy is befriended; but by other festive powers; by Erato, and by Love with his purple mother. Yet although the elegiack poet, and those who deal in the lighter kinds of verse, may enliven the imagination by these convivial gaieties; yet he who sings of wars, and Jove, pious heroes, and leaders exalted to demigods, the decrees of heaven, and the profound realms of hell, must follow the frugal precepts of the Samian sage, must quaff the pellucid stream from the beechen cup, or from the pure fountain. To this philosophy belong chaste and blameless youth, severe manners, and unspotted hands. Thus lived Tiresias, sagacious after the loss of sight, Ogygian Linus, the fugitive Calchas, and Orpheus the conqueror of beasts in the lonely caverns. It was thus that the temperate Homer conducted Ulysses through the tedious seas, the monster-breeding hall of Circe, and the shallows of the Syrens, ensnaring men with female voices; and through your habitations, O king of the abyss, where he detained the flocking ghosts with libations of black blood. For in truth, a poet is sacred; he is the priest of heaven, and his bosom conceives, and his mouth utters, the hidden god. Meanwhile, if you wish to be informed how I employ myself as a poet," &c. T. WARTON. ELEG. VII. Anno Etatis 19. NONDUM, blanda, tuas leges, Amathusia, nôram, Atque tuum sprevi, maxime, numen, Amor. Aut de passeribus timidos age, parve, triumphos; Hæc sunt militiæ digna trophæa tuæ. In genus humanum quid inania dirigis arma? Non valet in fortes ista pharetra viros. 5 10 Non tulit hoc Cyprius, neque enim deus ullus ad iras Ver erat, et summæ radians per culmina villæ At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, 15 Astat Amor lecto, pictis Amor impiger alis ; Et quicquid puero dignum et Amore fuit. 20 Ver. 15. At mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem, Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar.] Here is the elegance of poetical expression. But he really complains of the weakness of his eyes, which began early. He has "light unsufferable." Ode Nativ. v. 8. T. WARTON. Ver. 21. Talis &c.] This line is from Tibullus, iv. ii. 13. "Talis in æterno felix Vertumnus Olympo." T. WARTON. Miscet amatori pocula plena Jovi; 66 Aut, qui formosas pellexit ad oscula nymphas, 66 25 30 Ver. 25. Addiderátque iras, sed et has decuisse putares,] This reminds us of what Olivia says, of the supposed boy, with whom she falls in love, Twelfth Night, A. iii. S. 1. "O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful "In the contempt and anger of his lip." Compare Anacreon's Bathyllus, xxviii. 12. EPAETHE, Idyll. xviii. 14. · Αλλὰ καὶ οὕτως And Theocritus, *Ην καλός· ἐξ ὀργᾶς ἐρεθίζετο μᾶλλον ἐραστάς. And Shakspeare's Venus and Adonis, edit. 1596. "Which bred more beautie in his angrie eyes." We find also the same idea in his Ant. and Cleop. i. 1. Fye, wrangling queen! See also Statius, ix. 704. 66 T. WARTON. 66 multúmque severis Asperat ora minis, sed frontis servat honorem "Ira decens." TODD. |