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 II 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ,u
 
 Lyra Anglicana: 
 
 OR, 
 
 Poetry, and its EngliJJj Reprefejitathes. 
 
 a 3^ot\\\. 
 
 IN FOUR PARTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 B. COURTENAY GIDLKY 
 
 
 ■^ ^-^^ '■ fJllCi.j',, 
 
 f 
 
 LONDON: 
 IMPRINTED AT THE GRESHAM PRESS BY J. UNWIN. 
 
 1856.
 
 
 TO THE 
 
 REV. G. F. W. MORTIMER, D.D., 
 
 HEAD MASTER OF THE 
 
 CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL, 
 
 Cf)io Poem 
 
 IS 13EDICATED, WITH THE SINCEREST REGARD 
 
 AND GRATITUDE OF 
 
 HIS LATE PUPIL, 
 B. COURTENAY GIDLEY. 
 
 Carpenter Club, 
 
 18/// December, I 856. 
 
 816655
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Introdud:ion vii 
 
 Part I. — Thought i 
 
 „ II. — Language 25 
 
 „ III. — Poetry 47 
 
 „ IV. — Englifh Poetry and Poets 69 
 
 Alphabetical Lift of Poets 97
 
 Introduition, 
 
 r 
 
 F Thought developed, and the gentler kind 
 Of Reafon's workings in the human mind ; 
 Thofe foft exprellions that the bread infpire, 
 
 The welcome ftrains of great Apollo's lyre ; 
 
 Thoughts which the Mufes graved with iron ftyle,* 
 
 To lull the fenfes, and the heart beguile 
 
 From Sorrow's gloom to Hope's enlivening ray, 
 
 From Folly's night to Wifdom's dawning day : 
 
 The wide expanfion of the foul in verfe. 
 
 In thefe afpiring numbers I rehearfe. 
 What but the logic of the idiot mind, 
 
 The narrowed reafon of the low-born hind. 
 
 * The Jlylus was the pen with which the Roimn.s iifed to write on 
 tables of wax, and being always carried about with them, was probably 
 the origin of the ftiletto among the Italians.
 
 viii IntrodiiBion. 
 
 Could dare deny the ever potent charm 
 Of high-fouled Poefy ? which can difarm 
 Contention's brow of its unhallowed frown, 
 And calm the vengeance-feeking fpirit down. 
 
 Greece, the proud mother of poetic lore. 
 With Rome, her pupil, wakes the fong no more ; 
 And though the Bards, whom Anglia's lays inflame. 
 Their fyftem copy, and enjoy their fame ; 
 Still Anghan bofoms beat with fervour high. 
 To hear the tones of native Poefy. 
 
 Defcend, then. Heavenly Mufe, my tongue infpire 
 To hymn thy praifes ; while my tuneful lyre 
 Shall thrill refponfive to the meafured ftrain. 
 And liftening worlds take up the glad refrain. 

 
 Thought. 
 
 B
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 The origin of Thought — Its comprehenfiveners and illimitability — Its 
 requirements — The eye the medium through which ideas of external 
 obje6ls are conveyed to the mind — The mifery of being blind — The eye 
 the index of the feelings — Continued operation of Thought during deep — 
 The various workings of Thought, as obferved in Memory and Anticipa- 
 tion ; alfo in the paffions of Hope, Fear, and Hatred — Avarice and 
 Contentment compared — The exhibition of Thought in Love and Joy — 
 The pleafures of refleftion on the works of Nature — Sorrow confidered, 
 and also Faith, by the exercife of which. Thought is rendered immortal.
 
 Thought. 
 
 
 " Sun'ey the globe, each ruder reahii explore, 
 From Realbn's fainteft ray to Newton foar. 
 What different fpheres to human blifs affigned ! 
 What flow gradations in the fcale of mind ! 
 Yet mark in each thefe myftic wonders wrought. 
 Oh mark the fleeplefs energies of Thought ! " — Rogers. 
 
 HERE is a fpring whofe waters fpurn control, 
 Whofe fource lies deep in the immortal foul, 
 Whofe fwelling tide no channell'd limit knows. 
 Ever increafing as it onward flows : 
 
 Now 'neath the (hade of overhanging trees, j 
 
 Now cuts the plain, and courts the fragrant breeze ; 
 
 B 2
 
 'Thought. 
 
 Through placid glens in fluggifh filence creeps, 
 
 Or headlong o'er impeding barriers leaps ; 
 
 Frefh motive force acquires at every bend, 
 
 Till ocean's depths its mad progreflions end. lO 
 
 That fpring is Thought — which, rifing in the mind, 
 
 Exiftence gains, and takes a form defined ; 
 
 And fed by Wifdom's ever-foftering ftream. 
 
 Confinement fpurns — and, like an April gleam, 
 
 Shoots from the cloud that ftayed its bright career, 1 5 
 
 And fpreads, enlivening, through the moiftened air. 
 
 More vi^ide its circuit than the meteor's path, 
 The foaring eagle lefs of freedom hath ; 
 No laws reftridl, no cumbrous fetters bind 
 The wild imagination of the mind ; 20 
 
 Nor hold within the bounds of time or fpace 
 Thought's magic flight : with more than lightning pace 
 It fpeeds its way far o'er the furging tide, 
 
 . And hearts are joined, though rolling feas divide. 
 
 But Thought requires a ftimulus beyond 25 
 
 Its own inventions, and will quick refpond, 
 In glowing tones, to Nature's fimple ftrains 
 Of tacit eloquence, or Art's proud gains j 
 The vaft productions of the Omnifcient will. 
 Or fame-crowned labours, fruits of human fkill. 30 
 
 Thofe tender orbs, that give the crowning grace 
 To man's bold front, and gentler woman's face —
 
 Thought. 
 
 The cryftal windows* of the hidden mind — 
 
 Shed light o'er feelings otherwife confined 
 
 In dark obfcurity :t Creation's page 35 
 
 Had been no text-book for the mufing fage, 
 
 In which to read the greatnefs of His fway 
 
 Who moulded earth's proportions in a day, 
 
 Had He not bleffed him with the gift of fight, 
 
 To know and feel that all He does is right. ' 40 
 
 How fad his lot from whom has been withheld 
 This precious boon ! whofe breaft has never fwelled 
 With grateful feelings for the fun's bright beams ; 
 Who hears of oceans, and of rippling ftreams. 
 Of mountains, valleys, villages, and towns, 45 
 
 Of golden meadows, and uncultured downs ; 
 Yet are thefe fictions, blolToms never blown. 
 Scenes which his clouded vifion has not known : 
 
 * Tennyfon compares the mouth to the door, and the eyes to the 
 windows of the body ; and in fpeaking of a corpfe as a " deferted houfe," 
 says — 
 
 " Clofe the door, the (liutters clofe, 
 
 Or through the windows we fhall fee 
 The nakednefs and vacancy 
 Of the dark deferted houfe." 
 
 f " It is the foul that fees ; the outward eyes 
 
 Prefent the object, but the mind defcries." — Crabbe.
 
 6 Thought, 
 
 Imagination found, for Reafon fought, 
 
 And Fancy feated on the throne of Thought ! 50 
 
 Yet has the eye another ufe befide 
 Infl:ru6ling Mind how fares the world outfide : 
 It is an index of the fecret foul, 
 And fhows the rapid thoughts' fucceilive roll — * 
 In love fo foft, in wonder wide dilate, 5 5 
 
 In pride half clofed, in mufings fixed, fedate, 
 Beaming in hope, and radiant with delight. 
 While difappointment drives it back in night, 
 Contrail in anger, upturned in defpair, 
 
 But dull in idiocy — a vacant flare. 60 
 
 Thus every feature of the viewlefs mind 
 A quick tranflation in the eye will find. 
 
 When, tired of light, the lids furrendering clofe. 
 And Morpheus wraps the limbs in fweet repofe. 
 Still Thought maintains its ever refllefs fway,t 65 
 
 And Fancy freely wends her fitful way ; 
 
 * " I love thee ! I have gazed into thine eyes 
 
 Deep as are the depths of dark blue ocean. 
 And feen bright noble thoughts within arife. 
 
 And ifllie forth in angel-like emotion." — R. GiDNEY. 
 
 o 
 
 \ " What, though awhile the languid frame's opprefled, 
 And every wearied fenfe lies funk in reft, 
 Conclude not hence the bufy fpirit fled. 
 The mind extingui(hed, and its funflions dead ;
 
 Thotl<rht. 
 
 o 
 
 With wanton licenfe, mingling, void of rule, 
 
 The eve of age and morn of early fchool, 
 
 Confufmg epochs, making countries roam, 
 
 Till light and reafon call the wanderer home. 70 
 
 Well-furniflied Thought, if llowed with care away. 
 Will rife again at fome far-diftant day ; 
 And that vviiich now imprefTes leaft the mind, 
 Moft clearly then will fhow each part defined. 
 " As the ftern grandeur of a Gothic tower 75 
 
 " Awes us lefs deeply in its morning hour, 
 " Than when the ftiades of time ferenely fall 
 " On every broken arch and ivied wall, 
 " So fcenes of life, when prefent and confefled, 
 " Stamp but their bolder features on the breaft ; 80 
 
 " Yet not an image when remotely viewed, 
 " However trivial, and however rude, 
 *' But wins the heart, and wakes the focial figh, 
 " With every claim of clofe affinity."* 
 
 Such godlike faculties did Heaven decree, 
 That reafon dormant, ftill fhould reafon be." 
 
 EJfay on Dream!, by S. Rogers, of Bath. 
 
 " At night, after wearlnefs and watching, the body finketh into lleep. 
 But the mental eye is awake, and thou reafoneft in thy dreams." 
 
 TUPPER. 
 
 Rogers' " Pleafures of Memory."
 
 8 Thought. 
 
 The long-left fpot where pafTed our childhood's hours, 85 
 The fields we roamed in for the loved wild-flowers, 
 The village church, the hill's extenfive reach, 
 The fhady feat beneath the fpreading beech — 
 Scenes long forgotten, yet may one flight word, 
 Or fketch, or fentence, loofe the flender cord 90 
 
 That binds the veil o'er drowfy Memory's eyes. 
 And make the paft in life-like image rife.* 
 
 The heaped-up treafures of anceftral lore 
 Become our own when lodged in Memory's ftore ; 
 That mighty mirror, in whofe face we fcan 95 
 
 Men and their adlions fmce the world began. 
 We tread the paths of Paradife with thofe 
 Who there had life, but death through blindnefs chofe ; 
 We fee the Roman prows touch Anglia's ftrand, 
 And fhed the dawn of fcience o'er our land ; 100 
 
 We fee that land with civil difcords fhake, 
 And ferfdom's yoke from ofF her fhoulders break — 
 The pafl becomes a book, whofe every page 
 Can, in its turn, our mufing thoughts engage ; 
 And dead men live, and old events are new, 105 
 
 When fubje61: thus to fearching Memory's view. 
 
 * " I fing, in low and plaintive meafure, 
 Of joys and forrows long paft by ; 
 And young and old, with weeping pleafure, 
 Dwell on the ftrains of Memory.'" — Anon.
 
 Thought. 9 
 
 Anticipation has a potent charm, 
 Yet oft deceptive, when, in colours warm, 
 It lures the mind from fa6ls of prefent power, 
 To airy fabrics of the future hour;* no 
 
 And thus for pleafure find we nought but pain, 
 And difappointment is our only gain. 
 
 On Hope well bafed, expectant Thought feels fure — 
 For weakened energies the fafeft cure — f 
 Not that vain looking for contingent chance, 1 15 
 
 Whofe worth is comprehended in a glance ; J 
 Built on the ever-fhifting fands of life,§ 
 Wafhed from its bafis by the conftant ftrife 
 Of adverfe currents, and unlooked-for ftorms — 
 That is not Hope, whofe mifl:-enfhrouded forms 120 
 
 Are feen but dimly through the murky haze 
 Which hides the great Hereafter from our gaze : 
 But when misfortune loads our breaft with care. 
 And difappointment broods in filence there, 
 
 * " Large defires, with moft uncertain ifllies." — Longfellow. 
 
 •f- " I ftrive to gild this world of fadnefs. 
 And change it to a funny flope ; 
 All love my fong and tale of gladnefs. 
 
 And call me by the name of Hope." — Anon. 
 
 X " Leves fpes, et certamina divitiarum." — Horace. 
 
 § " Vitae fumma brevis fpem nos vetat inchoare longam." — lb.
 
 I o Thought. 
 
 We feize the glafs of kind prophetic Hope,* 125 
 
 That brings the future within nearer fcope, 
 And through the avenue of time unborn, 
 Difcern the funrife of a happier morn.t 
 
 When fpirits droop, and palfied nerves refufe 
 Their v\'onted office — when the chilly dews 130 
 
 Of Terror's night deprefs our {lender fail, 
 And leave our bark to battle with the gale — 
 Hope, fkilful pilot, takes the helm in hand. 
 And guides us fafely to the wifhed-for land. 
 
 On Ganges' marge a Hindoo maiden ftands, 135 
 
 Bearing a tiny vefTel in her hands, 
 A lamp its freight, whofe love-ignited beam 
 Now falls, now rifes on the treacherous ftream ; 
 
 * " Spes etiam valida folatur compede vI6lum j 
 Crura fonant ferro, fed canit inter opus." 
 
 TiBULLUS, Lib. 2, Eleg. 7. 
 
 " Hope is like a lonely ftar 
 
 When only one is feen." — Capern. 
 
 •f " Hope, of all paflions moft befriends us here ; 
 Paflions of prouder name befriend us lels : — 
 Joy has her tears ; and Tranfport has her death : 
 Hope, like a cordial, innocent though ftrong, 
 Man's heart at once infpirits and ferenes ; 
 Nor makes him pay his wifdom for his joys." 
 
 Young's Night Thoughts, Night 7.
 
 Thought. 1 1 
 
 If that fhould fink, it proves, alasl that flie 
 
 Her abfent lover never more may fee ; i ^^ 
 
 But if it live, Hope breathes the joyful ftrain, 
 
 " Defpair not, maiden, he'll return again." 
 
 " Unfading Hope ! w^hen life's laft embers burn, 
 *' When foul to foul, and duft to dull return, 
 " Heaven to thy charge refigns the aw^ful hour " 145 
 
 Of vital funfet and Lethean power, 
 " While to the foul thy feraph hands convey 
 " The morning dreams of life's eternal day."* 
 
 The heart that Death, by its deftrucSlive blow, 
 Has made the pangs of folitude to know, 150 
 
 Bids ftern defiance to the fiend Defpair, 
 When Hope difplays a folvent for its care — 
 
 * From CampbelTs " Pleafures of Hope." James Montgomery has 
 the following : — 
 
 " Round the good man's dying bed 
 Were the wreck of Nature fpread, 
 Hope would fet his fpirit free, 
 Crying-^Immortality ! " 
 
 " Brother of Faith, 'twixt whom and thee 
 The joys of heaven and earth divided be. 
 Though Faith be heir, and have the firft eftate. 
 Thy portion yet in moveables is great." — Cowley.
 
 1 2 Thought. 
 
 The glad re-union, in a world of blifs, 
 
 To that fond heart it loved and loft in this.* 
 
 Where Hope exifts not, Fear, in difmal ftate, 155 
 
 Sits brooding ill — as doth the culprit wait 
 The ftrolce of death — and haunts the timorous mind 
 With fcenes of danger, vifions undefined, 
 Wrapped in the mifts of Future, and thereby 
 Made doubly painful to the watching eye. 160 
 
 Fear caufes pain ; for that which has in fight 
 Approaching evil — gloom-o'erlhadowed night — 
 Muft feel the cloud already on its brow, 
 And fee the dreaded Future in the Now.f 
 
 " Fear makes us fly, but makes us ftumble too," 165 
 
 It fpeeds the feet, but veils precaution's view, 
 And hides in ftiadows of obfcureft night 
 The yawning gulf that waits our headlong flight. 
 Fear is a night-mare, whofe oppreflive weight 
 Bows down the mind with dreams of gloomy fate — % 170 
 
 * " Let thofe deplore their doom, 
 
 Whofe Hope ftill grovels in the dark fojourn ; 
 
 But lofty fouls who look beyond the tomb 
 
 Can fmile at Fate, and wonder how they mourn." — Beattie. 
 
 + " Therefore look up, fad fpirit ; be ftrong, thou coward heart. 
 
 Or fear will make thee wretched, though evil follow not behind." 
 
 TUPPER. 
 
 \ " Nofte brevem fi forte indulfit cura foporem, 
 Et toto verfata toro jam membra quiefcunt.
 
 Thought. 1 3 
 
 A panorama, in which all we fee 
 
 Are ruins, tombs, and forms of fantafy — 
 
 For not content with Nature's ftores difplayed, 
 
 It calls the power of Fancy to its aid, 
 
 And dreams of ills whofe fole exiftence lies 175 
 
 In dark focebodings, bafed on vain furmife. 
 
 The pangs of Confcience, 'neath a load of guilt. 
 Shake the foundation whereon Hope is built ; 
 Which, gazing onward through life's vifta drear. 
 Sees nought to comfort — everything to fear. 180 
 
 And yet the dread of danger is a fhield. 
 Which flays the arrows of a foe concealed — 
 For gendering caution, it prevents furprife 
 From harm enwrapped in Safety's peaceful guife.* 
 
 There is a Fear which does not fpring from crime — 1 85 
 Of nobler fource, and confequence fublime — 
 That love-blent awe of Deity Supreme, 
 Which forms the fubje6l of the good man's theme ;t 
 
 Continue templum, et violati numinis aras, 
 Et (quod praecipuls mentem ludoribus urget) 
 Te videt in fomnis." — Juvenal, Sat. 13. 
 
 * " Fear is the heritage of him, a portion wife and merciful, 
 
 To drive the trembler into fafety, if haply he may turn and flee." 
 
 TUPPER. 
 
 f " Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte." 
 
 Racine's Atkalie, Ad i, Scene i.
 
 1 4 Thought. 
 
 Which, while it dreads the fin-avenging rod, 
 
 Yet owns the mercy of a pard'ning God. 190 
 
 The wolf devours the lamb, whofe fnowy veft 
 Is not more pure than is its gentle bread ; 
 The lion tears the unoffending roe — 
 But not in anger — 'tis ordained fo 
 
 By God's decree, and Nature's fettled laws, 195 
 
 And hunger's yearnings are the fimple caufe. 
 But man's proud mind enlightened reafon fways, 
 And Thought its workings in his heart difplays ; 
 The pointed fatire, though in humour meant, 
 May prove an arrow from a bow well bent, _^ 200 
 
 And nx its poifoned head within the breaft, 
 To break the {lumber of affection's refl ; 
 For fome there be who fooner far than cloak 
 'Neath reafon's caution a fliarp-witted joke, 
 Regardlefs of the ills that may attend, 205 
 
 Enjoy their jell, and thereby lofe their friend ; 
 For gibes and taunts make hearts with fcorn dilate. 
 And probe the bofom with the thorns of hate ;* 
 The wrong fuftained continues mirrored there. 
 And thirft for vengeance — harder far to bear 210 
 
 * " Non eft jocus — effe mallgnum : 
 
 Nunquam funt grati, qui nocuere, fales." 
 
 Martial, Lib. 6, Ep. 23.
 
 Thought. 1 5 
 
 Than Nature's cravings — feeds the fatal fire 
 Of cherifhed Hatred and ungoverned ire! 
 
 Uncurbed ambition, envy's jealous eye, 
 That longs to fee its rival's greatnefs die, 
 Are but the channels through vv^hich Thought defcends 2 1 5 
 To fow difunion 'tw^ixt the clofeft friends. 
 'Twas that configned to premature decay 
 The firft cold form of foul-deferted clay, 
 And nerved the arm that (truck the murd'rous blow 
 By Brutus aimed, which laid great Csfar low : 220 
 
 It yokes the fteeds that draw the blood-flained car 
 Of fin-invented, death-difpenfing war — 
 When widows wail, and orphans cry in vain 
 To thofe fond hearts whofe blood now dyes the plain ; 
 And this, perchance, through one unguarded word,* 225 
 Which, like Prometheus' ever-fatelefs bird, 
 Unceafing gnawed, till vengeance waved its brand 
 Of dark deflrudlion o'er the haplefs land, 
 
 " Deeply think 
 
 Of all the woe an unkind word may wreak : 
 That It will caufe a loving child to fhrink 
 E'en from its mother's arms 5 that it will drive 
 A kind and tender hufband from his home. 
 And light a firebrand on the hoiifehold hearth; 
 That it will blight a heart's deep tenderneTs, 
 And crufh it back into Itfelf to die 
 In filent mifery." — Gidney.
 
 1 6 Thought. 
 
 That late had known and learned in truth to prove 
 
 The blefled influence of Peace and Love. 230 
 
 Oh, that the fons of earth would learn to find 
 Their trueft comfort and their peace of mind 
 In calm contentment — fource of every joy, 
 Whofe gold, unmixed with envy's bafe alloy, 
 Makes poor men rich — aye, richer far than thofe 235 
 
 Who, though their treafury with wealth o'erflows. 
 Yet ever labour to increafe their ftore, 
 And ftill the motto of their life is " More ! " * 
 The trueft wealth is hoarded in the foul,t 
 With pallions, feelings, pleafures in control, 240 
 
 * " Verum profefto eft, multis agere eum qui multa habeat, et minus 
 habendum efle, ut minus defit." — Gell., Lib. 9, Cap. 8. 
 
 " For covetoufnefs never had enough, but moaneth at its wants for 
 ever." — Tupper. 
 
 f " None is wealthy but the affluent in foul, who is fatisfied and 
 floweth over." — lb. 
 
 " Non ebur, neque aurum 
 Mea renidet in domo lacunar." 
 
 " At fides, et ingeni 
 
 Benique vena eft : pauperemque dives 
 Me petit." — Horat., Lib. 2, Ode 18. 
 
 " Nunquam divitiis deos rogavi, 
 Contentus modicis, meoque laetus." 
 
 Martial, Lib. 2, Ep. 64.
 
 ThoiiQ-ht. 
 
 'gin. 1 7 
 
 Which he who owns, whate'er his ftation be, 
 In calm content fhall live, from trouble free. 
 
 The pureft feeling of the opening mind, 
 Defigned by Heaven* to give a tone refined 
 To human nature in its gloomieft day, 245 
 
 And bow the favage bofom to its fway,t 
 Is foul-fprung Love — without it man is dead, 
 A dark mifanthrope, or an atheift dread ; 
 And life's extent is but protradled night, 
 When Love difplays not its enlivening light. 250 
 
 There dwelt no joy in Eden's rofy bower 
 While Love was wanting, and the weary hour 
 Pafled flowly by, on heavy wheels conveyed. 
 No voice to break, the ftillnefs of the fhade ; 
 " The world was fad, the garden was a wild, 255 
 
 " And man, the hermit, fighed, till woman fmiled." % 
 
 >;: «< Yes, Love indeed is light from Heaven, 
 A fpark of that immortal fire, 
 With angels fhared, by Alia given. 
 To lift from earth our low defire." — Byron, The Giaour. 
 
 -j- " Omnia vincit amor J et noscedamusamori." — Virgil, Pajloral 10. 
 
 " Love firft invented verfe, and formed the rhyme. 
 The motion meafured, harmonifed the chime ; 
 To liberal a6ls enlarged the narrow-fouled, 
 Softened the fierce, and made the coward bold." — Dryden. 
 
 J CampbelPs " Pleafures of Hope." 
 C
 
 1 8 Thought. 
 
 When Beauty lifts the veil whofe woof conceals 
 Youth's ripening charms, and modeftly reveals 
 To eyes enraptured the developed flower 
 Of Nature's lovelinefs ; with fudden power, 260 
 
 Awakened Thought a new emotion feels, 
 A magic influence o'er the fenfes fteals ; 
 And Mind, held captive by the gentle chain — 
 As ferpents oft their fpell-bound prey detain — 
 Ina6live refts, while Thought, compelled to rove 265 
 
 In narrowed limits, owns the power of Love.* 
 Yet is this Love ? I'd rather name it Luft, 
 A foullefs paffion — fruit of mortal duft ; 
 The frenzied fever of the eye-taught fenfe, 
 Whofe heat more fober reafon would condenfe. 270 
 
 True Love, like Faith, owes not its power to fight. 
 But fervent, foul-fprung, pierces e'en the night 
 Of fightlefs mortals. If it were confined 
 To outward form, regardlefs of the mind. 
 And faw in Beauty a more potent charm 275 
 
 Than depth of reafon, Love would never warm 
 The heart of him, whofe eyes are doomed to hide 
 In midnight darknefs all the bright noontide. 
 
 * " Love ! — What a volume in a word, an ocean in a tear, 
 A feventh heaven in a glance, a whirlwind in a figh. 
 The lightning in a touch, a millcnium in a moment ! " — Tupper.
 
 Thought. 1 9 
 
 But this is not that Love which fhall endure 
 Through Life's extent, for deeper and more pure 280 
 
 Is that which owns refpe£l its fountain fource, 
 Beneath the furface, fecret in its courfe ; 
 When mind to mind, by Thought united, clings. 
 And each partakes the good the other brings, 
 Liice uncut gems, may bear a rough outfide, 285 
 
 While pricelefs treafures in the heart refide, 
 Increafed by union j for the one fupplies 
 The other's lackings : bound by thefe llrong ties. 
 Hearts may indeed acknowledge Love's foft fway, 
 And cheer each other through life's defert way.* 290 
 
 When Thought in looking forward feels no fear, 
 In retrofpeclion fees no pidture drear ; 
 When confcience ftings not, and the guilelefs breaft 
 Can boaft a calm and lin-untainted reft — 
 Oh, that is Joy ! the Heaven-implanted blifs 295 
 
 Of brighter worlds, by far too pure for this ! 
 
 Away with that vain dogma that would find 
 A fatisfa<3:ion for the thirfty mind 
 
 * " It is a ftaff 
 
 Will help you marvelloufly on your way ; 
 And when you ftumble in the path will aid ; 
 And when your feet grow weary will uphold ; 
 And will in many ways aflift you." — Gidney. 
 
 C 2
 
 20 'Thought. 
 
 At fin's dark fount, and gall-infe6led ftreams, 
 
 The mifnamed joys of earth's inebriate dreams. 300 
 
 Huihed be the voice that falfely would afcribe 
 
 The source of happinefs to that vaft tribe 
 
 Of toil-earned pleafures, flames of phantom fire, 
 
 That lure their flaves into deftrucSlion's mire. 
 
 UnfuUied Joy owes not its noble birth 305 
 
 To fuch bafe means; the advocates of earth 
 
 Can never find, within their narrowed fphere, 
 
 A painlefs pleafure ;* for, in conftant fear 
 Of difappointment, feeking vain delight, 
 
 They toil by day, and fleeplefs mufe by night. 310 
 
 Reflection, ftriving to divine the caufe 
 Of earth's phenomena — how Nature's laws 
 Produce, continue, harmonife, and blend 
 Her complications in one ufeful end; 
 
 How years revolve, and feafons varying change 315 
 
 The garb of earth ; how, o'er the fea's wide range, 
 The feathered tribes in Autumn wend their way. 
 And homeward hie to greet Spring's opening day ; 
 
 ^< " Falfe glozing pleafures ; cafks of happinefs ; 
 
 Foolifli night-fires ; women's and children's wifhes j 
 Chafes in arras ; gilded emptlnefs j 
 Shadows well mounted 5 dreams In a career; 
 Embroidered lies ; nothing between two dishes ; — 
 
 Thefe are the pleafures here." — Geo. Herbert.
 
 Thought. 2 1 
 
 How ftorms arife, and Heaven's deep ordnance roll 
 
 In echoing majefly from pole to pole — 320 
 
 The mind that dwells on fubje6ls fuch as thefe, 
 
 Shall in them find what will infl:ru6l and pleafe ;* 
 
 For trueft pleafure fprings from Nature's themes, 
 
 Whofe page with frefh allurements ever teems, 
 
 And bears the mind diftracfling cares above, 325 
 
 To cull the fweets in Contemplation's grove. 
 
 And when the eye of Faith difpels the gloom 
 That fpreads its mantle o'er the filent tomb. 
 And buoyed by Hope, on Truth's unfwerving bafe, 
 Difcerns the obje£ls of Almighty grace ; 330 
 
 Then Thought, awakened, knows completeft joy, 
 Freed from the drofs of earth's impure alloy. 
 
 How fad the contrail ! when expires the flame 
 Of Hope and Blifs, and but the empty name 
 Unmeaning ftands ; while fmouldering to decay 335 
 
 The lifelefs embers of enjoyment's day, 
 O'erwhelmed in death by Sorrow's threatening tide. 
 Let loofe the ftreams that cheering Hope had dried. 
 
 When, at the fummons of Omnifcient fway, 
 A well-loved fpirit fpeeds its Heaven- ward way, 340 
 
 • " The foul, fed and fattened on the thoughts and things around it, 
 Groweth to perfeiRion, full of fruit, the fruit of foreign feeds." 
 
 TUPPER.
 
 2 2 Thought. 
 
 And leaves a vacuum in AfFeftion's heart, 
 To fill that fpace is Griefs unwelcome part.* 
 
 Misfortune's frowns, and crime's repented wrongs 
 Supply the whip of Sorrow with its thongs ; 
 While fcalding tears fuffufe the drooping eye, 345 
 
 And echo hears the oft-repeated figh ; 
 Yet troubles oft are blellings in difguife,t 
 In mercy ordered, to divert our eyes 
 And thoughts from earth and its alluring dreams. 
 To fix our gaze on thofe life-giving ftreams 35° 
 
 Of cleanfing grace that iflue from above. 
 The hallowed fount of mediatorial love. 
 
 Thus Thought we trace through all its varied forms. 
 And mark its impulfe ; how in Love it warms. 
 In Fear defponds, in Hope makes hearts grow ftrong, 355 
 And ruling Confcience warns the foul of wrong. 
 Sweet Memory owes to Thought its greateft gain. 
 And foul-fprung Pleafure only knows not pain. 
 
 * " Oh ! grief, beyond all other griefs, when fate 
 Firft leaves the young heart lone and delblate 
 In the wide world, without that only tie 
 For which it loved to live, or feared to die." — Lalla Rookh. 
 
 \ " Yet oft affliflion purifies the mind. 
 
 Kind benefits oft flow from means unkind." 
 
 Savage, The Wanderer.
 
 Thought. 2 3 
 
 Defpair, and Envy, Sorrow, Hate, and Pride, 
 Are all but channels for Thought's ebbmg tide, 360 
 
 While Chriftian graces, like the fun's bright beams, 
 Abforb its efTence, and releafe its ftreams. 
 
 And, chief of all, is that unwavering Truft 
 Which bears the foul beyond corruption's duft, 
 And lifts the veil from earth's reftridled fight, 365 
 
 To glimpfe the glories of unfading light, 
 The.ever-rifing, never-fetting ray. 
 That cheers the regions of eternal day! 
 That fteadfaft Faith which meafures with its eye 
 The unborn Future, whofe ena6i:ments lie 370 
 
 Involved in myftery, fealed from faithlefs ken, 
 The Heaven-ward guide for fallen, but ranfomed men, 
 Forefhadows, faintly. Heaven's unbounded life. 
 Undying death, and Hell's unceafing ftrife. 
 
 By means of Faith, Thought gains a wider fphere, 375 
 And brings the fcenes of diftant epochs near; 
 Not bafed on fight, nor fed from Fancy's ftore. 
 But taught by God His greatnefs to adore ; 
 Though fown on earth, yet formed by His decree 
 In Heaven to bloom when Time fhall ceafe to be. 380 

 
 Part M. 
 
 ?^ 
 
 Language.
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 Thought without Language produces no external efFeft — The power 
 of the Tongue — The value of Speech made apparent in the communi- 
 cation to others of Sorrow or Joy, which are thereby alleviated or 
 heightened — Of the gift of Oratory — Its efFeft on the lifteners more 
 particularly evidenced when two of oppofite opinions addrefs an audience 
 in turn — The various ufes to which Language is applied, as noticed in 
 Pralfe, Flattery, Reproof, Satire, Scandal, Slander, and Prayer — The 
 wreSchednefs of the Dumb and Deaf alleviated by the ability to convey 
 ideas in writing — Writing, a mod valuable invention, as (hown by the 
 various advantages refulting from the ufe of it — The progreflion of 
 Language, as in the Greek and Latin ; with a fketch of the gradual 
 formation of the Englifli Language, and Its eftablilhment under its 
 prefent form.
 
 Language. 
 
 " Speech is the golden hai-veft that followeth the flowering of thought ; 
 
 Spirit may mingle with fpirit, but fenfe requireth a fynibol ; 
 
 And fpeech is the body of a thought, without which it were not feen." 
 " The pen of a ready writer, whereunto fhall it be likened ? 
 
 Afk of the fcholar, he fhall know, — to the chains that bind a Proteus; 
 
 Afk of the poet, he fhall fay, — to the fun, the lamp of Heaven ; 
 
 A(k of thy neighbour, he can anfwer, — to the friend that telleth my 
 thought." 
 " It fixeth, expoundeth, and difleminateth fentiment ; 
 
 Chaining up a thought, clearing it of myftery, and fending It bright 
 into the world." — Tupper. 
 
 HOUGHT, unexprefl'ed, is but as Thought unborn 
 To minds external — as the wifhed-for morn, 
 Ere gloomy night has yet refigned her fway 
 To brighter fcenes of full developed day —
 
 2 8 Language. 
 
 Till Language robes it in a form defined, 5 
 
 And bears its import to the liftening mind. 
 
 The Tongue is but a lever poifed with care 
 On learning's fulcrum ; on its end doth bear 
 The tripled force of Thought's deprefling weight, 
 Whofe ftrength, or weaknefs, makes men fmall or great. lO 
 This force applied, if placed with ftudious art. 
 May roufe the mind and gain the liftener's heart ; 
 Draw forth the tear, or caufe the joyous fmile, 
 And Love's bright beams from Anger's cloud beguile. 
 
 Doth Sorrow greet thee, or a load of care 1 5 
 
 Opprefs thy bofom till thou fcarce canft bear 
 The heavy burthen on thy weary mind, 
 Whofe ftruggling wings the chains of trouble bind ?* 
 Seek, then, thy friend, on whofe confentient breaft 
 Thy aching brow may find a welcome reft ; 20 
 
 Reveal to him the fource of all thy Grief; 
 Thus fhare thy burthen, and obtain relief, f 
 A true-named friend, when told thy piteous tale. 
 Will feel thy Sorrows, and thy Grief bewail ; 
 
 * " Strangulat inclufus dolor, atque exasftuat intus ; 
 Cogitur et vires multiplicare fuas." 
 
 Ecloga Ovidiana. 
 
 \ " Tout mortel se foulage a parler de fes maux." 
 
 Andre Chenier.
 
 Language. 29 
 
 Then every grievance will appear his own,* 25 
 
 And many an ill himfelf hath never known 
 
 Seem fo familiar, that the trial, though great, 
 
 Shared by his care, will fall with lefTened weight 
 
 On thy fad fpirit, till a hopeful ray 
 
 Shews the^worn heart a brighter coming day. 30 
 
 So, kindlier Deity, if Fortune fmile. 
 And Sorrow hide her vifage for awhile. 
 Thine overflowing heart a vent require. 
 To eafe its fulnefs, and the ftrong defire 
 To tell thy Joy in fome confiding ear, 35 
 
 Whofe difmal path thy heart-fprung glee may cheer ; 
 Hafte to thy friend, who bore with thee thy woe. 
 And fhare with him the blifs that greets thee now : 
 Participation gives an added zeft 
 
 To every pleafure, and is doubly bleft, 40 
 
 In that it binds, with every ftrongeft tie. 
 The hearts of friends in fondeft fy mpathy.f 
 
 * " Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur." — Enmus. 
 
 " Idem velle, atque idem nolle — ea demum firma amicltia est." 
 
 Sallust's Catilina. 
 
 ■\ " Quid dulcius, quam habere, cuicum omnia audeas sic loqui ut 
 tecum ? Qu^is effet tantus fi-u6lus in profperis rebus, nifi haberes qui illis 
 aeque ac tu ipfe gauderet ? Adversas vero ferre difficile elTet iine eo, qui 
 illas gravlus etiam, quam tu, ferret." — CiCERO, De Amicilia.
 
 30 Language. 
 
 He who hath ftored his brain from wifdom's page, 
 And learnt to blend the Speaker with the fage, 
 Can mount the roftrum, and, with ready fkill, 45 
 
 Control men's hearts, and turn them at his will ;* 
 Diftrefs he pi6lures, and draws forth the tear ; 
 He warns of danger, and awakens fear; 
 Or dwells on glory ; then their pulfes beat 
 In fwifter meafures : if anon he treat 50 
 
 Of honour, country, an ambitious foe. 
 The nation's flower of chivalry laid low — 
 Their bofoms fwell with patriotic zeal. 
 Each word, each fentence, as he fpeaks, they feel ;t 
 His voice the match to light the fmouldering fire 55 
 
 Of thirfty vengeance, and indignant ire. 
 
 The theme he changes, tells a tale of love. 
 How conftant trials afFe6lion's value prove, 
 The diftant journey, and the deadly ftrife, 
 Hellena's fears for bold Auguftus' life ; 60 
 
 Her chiding fire, who deems the youth's defcent 
 Of meaner blood than fhould with his be blent. 
 
 * " Has Heaven more envied favour to beftow 
 
 Than fenfe, and eloquence that fenfe to Ihew ?" — S. Rogers, Bath. 
 f " Thou turned the key of their love, bending their affeftions to thy 
 purpofe, 
 
 And all, in fympathy with thee, tremble with tumultuous emotions." 
 
 TUPPER.
 
 Language. 3 1 
 
 While yet the maiden, faithful to her vow, 
 
 Can dare the frown that gathers on his brow ; 
 
 And though a high-born lordling feeks her hand 65 
 
 Yet, nobly conftant, makes a dauntlefs ftand — 
 
 With anxious filence they each fcene attend, 
 
 And, fcarcely breathing, wait the doubtful end. 
 
 The power of Eloquence we beft may learn, 
 When adverfe minds addrefs the mafs in turn ; 70 
 
 The firft who fpeaks may advocate a caufe, 
 Enhance its obje6ls, and by all the laws 
 Of ftri6left logic prop the well-built frame 
 Of fubtle argument, to urge his claim ; 
 
 The liftening concourfe, thinking but as one, 75 
 
 Embrace his views, and fo his talk is done. 
 
 But if a fecond, with perfuafive art. 
 His rival's plan difTeiling, part by part, 
 Difplay the feeming folly of the fcheme — 
 " A frail chimera," and " a lifelefs dream" — 80 
 
 The tables turn, the vacillating crowd. 
 Like marfli-fprung withies, are as fimply bowed ; 
 Whichever way the wind may chance to fet. 
 They with it bend, and former will forget.* 
 
 * This efFeft is admirably portrayed by Shakefpeare, in the conflicting 
 fpeeches of Biutus and Antony over the body of Caefar, See Julius Ca/ar, 
 Ad III., Scene 3.
 
 3 2 Language, 
 
 But trace we Language through its varied ftreams, 85 
 
 That give a fubftance to Thought's fhadowy dreams, 
 The forms of Speech, refultant from the need 
 Of further blellings than thofe yet decreed ; 
 Reproof's corredlions. Love's endearing tones, 
 The fongs of Gladnefs, and Misfortune's groans, 90 
 
 The fecret Slander, that deflroys a name. 
 And friendly Praife, that ftimulates to Fame.* 
 
 When man, with honeft purpofe ftrives to fill 
 His chofen ftation, and improves the (kill 
 By Heaven advanced, nor like the fluggard hind 95 
 
 Immures in folly his ill-furnifhed mind ; 
 E'en though in this he but God's law obeys. 
 Yet who'll deny how fweet the voice of Praise ? f 
 
 The drowning man, who beats with eager hand 
 The threat'ning wave, and gafps to gain the land ; 100 
 
 The while he feels that if his flrength fhould fail, 
 Death is his portion ; ftill, above the gale 
 
 ''<- " Praife a wife man, and fpeed him on his way." — Tupper. 
 
 f " The love of praife, howe'er concealed by art. 
 Reigns more or lefs, and glows in every heart : 
 The proud, to gain it, toils on toils endure j 
 The modeft Ihun it, but to make it fure ; 
 Ctr globes and fceptres, now on thrones it fwells. 
 Now trims the midnight lamp in college cells." 
 
 Dr. Young, Lo've of Fame.
 
 Language. 3 3 
 
 He hears the voices of expedbant friends 
 
 Cheering him on ; encouraged he extends 
 
 His weakening arms, and, rifing o'er the furge, 105 
 
 Lifts to the winds that yet may wail his dirge \ 
 
 Another cheer, another ftrain for hfe. 
 
 And death or fafety ends the anxious Pcrife. 
 
 Why toils the ftatefman through the fleeplefs night ? 
 Why feeks the chief the thickeft of the fight ? 110 
 
 Why rifles the failor, on the rolling wave, 
 The hfe that cofts him many a pang to fave ?' 
 Ambition's dream, the love of human fame,* 
 The thirft for greatnefs, and a titled name; 
 Thefe are the fcrews that, turned by Fortune's hand, 1 1 5 
 Can move the minds of thoufands at command ; 
 And Tyro's toil through learning's arduous ways 
 Knows nought more fweet than Philo's valued pralfe. 
 
 But Adulation is the gift of fools, 
 By fools accepted ;t it annuls the rules 120 
 
 * " For this, conquerors, regicides, and rebels have dared their perilous 
 crimes. 
 In all men, from the monarch to the menial, lurkcth lull; of 
 fame." — Tupper. 
 " Timely-given praife is even better than the merited rebuke of 
 cenfure." — Ibid. 
 \ "The world is full of fools ; and fycophancy liveth on the foolilh." 
 
 Ibid. 
 D
 
 34 Language. 
 
 Of merit's recompence, and worth's reward ; 
 
 And folly gains the praife, from mind debarred. 
 
 When, chained in mifery, the cringing flave 
 
 Would gain oppreflion's ear, and humbly crave 
 
 Extended largefs — when the debtor feels 125 
 
 Increafnig claims retard his eager heels. 
 
 And bind his freedom ; then he takes the oil 
 
 Of fmooth-tongued Flattery, which, e'en though it foil 
 
 The ufer's fingers, blinds his patron's eyes,* 
 
 Whofe felf to felf feems robed in nobler guife, 1 30 
 
 While giving gracious audience to the prayer 
 
 Of mock fubje6lion, that, with zealous care, 
 
 Affefts to honour, while but fcorn it feels. 
 
 Applauding virtues pra6lice ne'er reveals. 
 
 Deferved Reproof, that from AfFeftion fprings, 135 
 
 Is better far than Flattery's hidden ftings. 
 The eye of Love dete6ls the lurking ill, 
 And gently chides, yet, chiding, loveth ftill. 
 It grieves to fee the firft increafing fpot. 
 Which, if unchecked, may prove the faddeft blot 140 
 
 On honour's mantle, and, with loving pain 
 Obferving, fpeaks, and, fpeaking, moves the ftain. 
 
 " Show me a popular man ; I can tell thee the fecret of his power : 
 He hath foothed them with glozing words, lulling their ears with 
 flattery." — Tupper.
 
 Language. 3 5 
 
 When Love avails not, Juftice' fterner hand, 
 With life and death, the flaves of its command, 
 Makes known the rigour of the Law's decree, 14.5 
 
 And feals the a£t that fets a fpirit free. 
 
 But if the tongue, to meaner ufe inclined. 
 Lets loofw the thoughts of Anger's tainted mind, 
 The bitter curfe of Hatred's loathfome breath. 
 Recoiling wounds, and works its author's death. 150 
 
 The keeneft arrow fhot from rhetoric's bow 
 Is well-aimed Satire, which, with feeming fhow 
 Of fatisfailion, heaps derifion's gibes 
 On folly's altar, and, moil: grave, afcribes 
 To flothful ignorance wifdom's greateft deeds, 155 
 
 Or fweetefl: perfumes to the rankeft weeds ; 
 And fain would find new beauties to admire 
 In withering age, unwarmed by amorous fire. 
 
 But, moft degrading to the power of Speech 
 Is coward Scandal, that would loudly preach 160 
 
 To fo-called friends its unreferved efteem. 
 But in their abfence make their faults its theme \ 
 And, not regarding Truth's moft facred bound. 
 Invent, and vary, as the tale goes round.* 
 
 * " Rolling and furging as a fea, that upturned flood of faces 
 
 Hailcnetli, with its million tongues, to fpread the wondrous t:Ue. 
 
 TUPPER. 
 
 D 2
 
 3 6 Language. 
 
 The prating goflips at the alehoufe bar 165 
 
 Would guide a fenate, or condu6l a war ; 
 Illiterate clowns, who, though they feem to be 
 The very lords of Europe's deftiny, 
 Yet condefcend their neighbour's faults to view 
 Through Scandal's microfcope.* If any new 170 
 
 Or unknown traveller ftay awhile to reft 
 ^Vithin their village, mark they how he's dreft, 
 Obferve his manners, feek to know his name, 
 His occupation, and from whence he came ; 
 Conjedlure freely of his age, and ftate ; 175 
 
 One boldly ventures to affirm he's great ; 
 Another differs, and would call it pride ; 
 While one, their vain furmifmgs to decide, 
 Pretends, with much of myftery, to know 
 More of his bufinefs than he cares to fhew. 180 
 
 From Scandal follows Slander, at whofe fight 
 The face of Truth is veiled ; like ftealthy night, 
 It imperceptibly creeps on our reft. 
 And marks our weaknefs ; then, in fidlion dreft, 
 It fcatters freely to believing ears 185 
 
 The fabrication, by imputing fears 
 
 * " Below mc there is the village, and looks now quiet and firiali ; 
 And yet bubbles o'er like a city, with goffip, fcandal, and Ipite; 
 And Jack, on his alehoufe bench, has as many lies as a Czar." 
 
 Tennyson, Maud.
 
 Language'. 37 
 
 To men of daring ; a6ts of impious fhame 
 
 To thofe who glory in a fpotlefs name ; 
 
 In Love's warm, breaft fows Jealoufy's rank feed ; 
 
 Makes many a heart through bafe injuftice bleed ; 190 
 
 And, not content with caufing human ftrife, 
 
 Imputes mutation to the Lord of Life. 
 
 The nobleft effort of the tongue is Praise, 
 And Prayer its holieft office ; for it fways 
 Jehovah's mind to grant the needed boon, 195 
 
 And gains the fuppliant accefs to His throne : 
 Not that vain utterance of foullefs founds. 
 That mock lip-worfhip which fo much abounds 
 'Mong fo-called Chriftians, whofe religion feems 
 A vain hypocrify — deception's dreams. 200 
 
 But Prayer, to be effe6live, muft be real ; 
 The foul itfelf infpire the thoughts with zeal ; 
 Which, foaring high on Faith's expanding wing. 
 May reach the Spirit of the Heavenly King ; 
 Yet move Him not from His prejudged decree, 205 
 
 Nor make His fiat vary ; for 'tis He 
 Who, ever prone repentant man to fpare, 
 The want engenders, and fuggefts the Prayer.* 
 
 * " So then, God is true, and yet He hath not changed : 
 
 It is He that fendeth the petition, to anfwer it according to his will," 
 
 TUPPER.
 
 3 8 Language. 
 
 Thus, holy incenfe, fhowered from above, 
 The foftened dew-drops of eternal Love,* 2I0 
 
 Sink in the heart, till warmed by heavenly grace, 
 Their fweeteft perfumes fill celeftial fpace, 
 And fwiftly rife, with Supplication's theme, 
 Back to the prefence of the Great Supreme ; 
 Who, ready, grants the promifed bleflings claimed, 215 
 
 And hears the Prayer Himfelf at firft had framed. 
 
 The Hindoo flaves the power of Vifhnu fmg, 
 And Allah reigns the blinded Moflem's king ; 
 The dark-fouled Magi feek the Sun's bright rays, 
 And falling proflrate yield him borrowed praife. 220 
 
 But thefe are phantoms — fpirit-killing flames — 
 Gods, whofe exiflence dwells but in their names ; 
 Whofe ears are deaf to the fincereft Prayer 
 To lighten Sorrow or avert Defpair. 
 
 On furer grounds the Chriftian's hope is built; 225 
 
 He knows a fount to cleanfe his foul from guilt; 
 He knows the means that fount's pure ftream to fhare. 
 Is but to take the (lender key of Prayer, 
 
 * " Prayer — the Church's banquet ; angel's age ; 
 God's breath in man, returning to his birth ; 
 The foul In paraphrafe; heart in pilgrimage j 
 The ChriUlan plummet, founding Heaven and earth." 
 
 Geo. Herbert.
 
 Language. 39 
 
 And turn the bolts that fix the maflive door 
 
 Of pent-up Mercy,* which will forthwith pour 230 
 
 Its grateful tide of confolations fweet, 
 
 To make his foul for Heaven's acceptance meet. 
 
 AfflicSled Mutus feels the glowing thought,! 
 The ftriking truths by Nature's volume taught ; 
 His bofom fwells, his pulfes fwifter beat, 235 
 
 As feathered choirs chant forth their anthems fweet : 
 He longs to tell the Joy he filent feels, 
 Or wail the Sorrow that his heart conceals ; 
 The rifmg accents tremble on his tongue, 
 But yet efcape not ; he has never fung 240 
 
 The fong of freedom, or the lay of love. 
 Nor learnt the power of melody to prove. 
 
 More fad the deaf, who fees the lightning flafh, 
 But cannot hear the thunder's echoing crafh ; 
 Though to the rifmg fun the lark may fing 245 
 
 His loudeft carols, on untiring wing. 
 
 * " Prayer is the golden key that can open the wicket of Mercy." 
 
 TUPPER. 
 
 f " There be who can think within themfelves, and the fire burneth 
 at their heart, 
 And eloquence waiteth at their lips, yet they fpeak not with their 
 tongue." — Ibid.
 
 40 LanmaQ-e 
 
 He might as well, with his melodious tones, 
 
 Have waked the echoes at the fartheft zones. 
 
 The voice of kindnefs he can never hear, 
 
 With friendly chat his lonelier hours to cheer; 250 
 
 Earth all is foundlefs ; and, without a roar, 
 
 The ftorm-lafhed ocean beats the fhingly fhore ! 
 
 Through thefe we fee, in all its pricelefs worth, 
 The greateft gift vouchfafed to lower earth — 
 The power of fixing, in fy mbolic form, 25 c 
 
 The varied thoughts which man's proud bofom warm. 
 
 The deaf can hear, the dumb a voice can find,* 
 To eafe the want, or fulnefs of their mind ; 
 For he who writes may feelings oft reveal, 
 His lips would elfe in unborn life conceal ; 260 
 
 And he who reads^ e'en though but dead to found, 
 May yet in Wifdom's coftliefl gifts abound. 
 
 The life-long toils of philofophic zeal 
 Would be but loft, and none their bleffings feel. 
 Save thofe who lived coeval with the Sage, 26? 
 
 And with him gleaned from Nature's opening page ; 
 Unlefs the thoughts thus heaped in Memory's ftore 
 Be graved in cyphers of undying lore, 
 
 * " O precious compenfation to the dumb, to write his wants and 
 wifhes ! 
 O dear amends to the ftammering tongue, to pen his burning 
 thoughts !" — TUPPER.
 
 Language. 4 ^ 
 
 That after-ages may his labours fcan,* 
 
 Improve the fcience, and revere the man.f 270 
 
 How hard the talk to ftore the infant mind 
 With goodly wares of learning's various kind ; 
 Did Wifdom's life on Memory's flrength depend, 
 Tradition's nurfling, doomed thus to defcend, 
 From ftep to ftep, the genealogic fcale — 275 
 
 Invention's fport when fadls of knowledge fail. 
 Or how could friends, whofe duties caufe a breach 
 To fever kindly intercourfe, e'er reach 
 Each other's fpirits, fave by tranfcript Thought, 
 Conveyed in figns neceflity has taught ? 280 
 
 Where were the might of editorial fway, 
 Whofe fmgle thought a thoufand wills obey ? 
 Or where of Bibliophilus the zeal, 
 Ambrofial fweets from ancient lore to fteal ? 
 Where were the immortality of fame, 285 
 
 The deathlefs glory of a lauded name. 
 If Language fpoke but to the ear alone. 
 And written Speech were ftill a thing unknown ? 
 
 Or how, when Death's forefhadowings caft a gloom 
 O'er Life's laft hours — a preface to the tomb — 290 
 
 * " So the mind that was among us, in its writings is embalmed." 
 
 TXJPPER. 
 
 f " Serit arbores, quae alter! faeculo profint." — Statius.
 
 42 Language. 
 
 And niggard Dives feeks, with jealous care, 
 
 His goods to apportion, and bequeaths his heir — 
 
 A recklefs fpendthrift — but a pittance fmall, 
 
 Who ne'er had doubted his poflefling all ; 
 
 Can he be certain that his will (hall find 295 
 
 Its due fulfilment, if he do not bind 
 
 By witneffed deed — fecured, in cleared phrafe ■ 
 
 Of legal forefight, from each likely phafe 
 
 Of difcontent that may perchance arife — 
 
 The legatees of this his hoarded prize ? 300 
 
 So thus, though Speaking ferves our prefent need, 
 Expreflive founds, which cuftom hath agreed — 
 Yet, to record the annals of the Paft, 
 And over future dynafties to caft 
 
 The fpirit of the Prefent, and difFufe 305 
 
 The increafing ftores of learning, we muft ufe 
 More lafting means ; 'tis written Speech conveys 
 To prefent minds the adts of bygone days \ 
 And prefent words in future epochs live. 
 Robed in that truth the pen alone can give. 310 
 
 The ftore of Language, like a fpreading tree. 
 With time increafes ; helplefs infancy 
 Can fcarce lifp forth the little wants it feels. 
 While plaintive fobbings form its chief appeals ; 
 With years advancing. Thought more adlive grows, 315 
 
 And Speech in ftreams of richer fulnefs flows,
 
 La?2s:uas:e. 
 
 'guage. 43 
 
 Till youth progrelling learns, with ripened age, 
 The deepeft terms in Wifdom's ftudied page. 
 
 'Tis To with nations : ere refinement's day 
 Has chafed the night of Ignorance away, 320 
 
 The ill-clad ferfs, who hunt the flying herds, 
 Have fcarce more need of clothing than of words ; 
 But when the dawn of opening fcience breaks 
 Through Folly's gloom, and fleeping Reafon wakes; 
 When conquering heroes, 'neath the yoke of v/ar, 325 
 
 Bring in the wealth of kingdoms from afar; 
 Increafed dominion gives a wider range 
 For Art's progreflion, and the love of change. 
 Innate in man, Invention's aid requires. 
 To feed Ambition's unappeafed defires.* 330 
 
 When firft Deucalion on ParnafTus flood, 
 Refcued from Lethe, and the Stygian flood ;t 
 
 * " Semper infinita, infatiabilis eft.'" — Sallust's Catilina. 
 ■\ " Hujus temporibus (b.c. 1522) aquarum eluvies majorem partem 
 populopjm Grajciae abfumpfit. Supert'uerunt, quos refugia montium 
 receperunt, aut ad regem Theflalise Deucalionem ratibus eve6ti funt ; 
 a quo propterea genus hominum conditum dicitur.'" 
 
 JusTiNus, Lib. 7., Cap. 6. 
 " Quo tempore primum 
 
 Deucalion vacuum lapides ja6lavit in orbem ; 
 Unde homines nati — durum genus." — Virgil, Georgic 1. 
 Hyglnus fays, Deucalion faved his life by taking refuge on the top of 
 Mount .^tna in Sicily.
 
 44 Language. 
 
 With gentle Pyrrha bent his fteps to earth, 
 
 And cured, by means moft wondrous, human dearth; 
 
 Achaia's voice was but the jargon rude 335 
 
 Of naked favage and of helot crude ; 
 
 Till other people, forced by war's decree, 
 
 Or lured by commerce o'er the furging fea j 
 
 More verfed in fcience, and refined in art, 
 
 Could Learning's hght to Hellas' gloom impart. 340 
 
 'Twas then the fon of Grecia's glowing clime 
 
 Could rife in thought to Reafon's courts fublime. 
 
 And, feeking words to unload his fwelling mind, 
 
 A more advanced nomenclature could find. 
 
 As Rome her fcroll of rifing fame unfurled, 345 
 
 To wield her fceptre o'er a trembling world ; 
 Her language grew at firft a babbling ftream, 
 At length a fea convulfed with freedom's theme ; 
 Till when ftie fang the foul-infpiring lay 
 Of patriot zeal and unrefifted fway, 350 
 
 'Twas in that tongue with which her bold commands 
 Were thundered forth upon the fubjeit lands. 
 
 'Twas fo with Britain, who can proudly boaft 
 Her voice refounds from each remoteft coaft ; 
 On whofe domains the fun-beams never fet, 355 
 
 Whofe word may be Earth's ruling diilate yet. 
 When Caefar's galleys fought our native land. 
 And Roman foot-prints firft imprefled her fand,
 
 Latiguage. 4^ 
 
 The lords of Britain were but free-born flaves, 
 
 Whofe regal caftles were the mountain caves ; 360 
 
 Though- free in body, yet in Speech and Thought 
 
 The flaves of Ignorance 5 v/ho, by ferfdom, bought 
 
 A greater freedom J for their foreign lords 
 
 With varying fpeech increafed the ftore of words. 
 
 Till Britain's language, like an inland fea, 365 
 
 From confluent ftreams acquired fufficiency. 
 
 Jutes, Angles, Saxons, Britons, Danes combined. 
 
 By blending tongues, to form a fpeech refined : 
 
 Then Norman William left his Gallic throne. 
 
 To make our fields of waving gold his own; 370 
 
 And merged the foftnefs of that warmer clime. 
 
 To give the whole a fentiment fublime. 
 
 Long did the fturdy " Saxon churls" rebel 
 
 Againft this inroad, and their bofoms fwell 
 
 With righteous wrath at the unheard-of wrong, 375 
 
 W^hich bid them to forget their mother tongue.* 
 
 But native pride was greater than to bow 
 
 To proud ufurpers, or one claim allow 
 
 Which fhould diminifli its anceftral right, 
 
 Or fell its freedom to a foreign might ; 380 
 
 * " The Saxon language, however degraded, Hill continued to main- 
 tain its ground, an generally fpoken, and even employed in works of" 
 information and amufement, for at Icaft a century after the Norman 
 conqueft." — Dr. Johnson.
 
 46 Language. 
 
 Till cuftom, Nature's fecond-felf, difpelled 
 The gathering clouds, and rifing difcord quelled. 
 And thus defcent, with claffic fprigs entwined, 
 Expreflive force with euphony combined,* 
 Britannia's voice is loud in Juftice' caufe, 385 
 
 And rules impartially by Freedom's laws ; 
 The laft to wake the fl umbering fiend of ftrife, 
 The firft to give a vanquifhed brother life:t 
 And long may Britons boatt, both old and young, 
 The free enjoyment of their mother-tongue ; 390 
 
 Be this their motto — that though wars increafe, 
 The voice of Britain is the voice of Peace ! 
 
 *".... England, dear old England ! 
 Who dare her honour mar ? 
 She'd rather bind a broken heart, 
 
 Than break a heart in war." — Caper N. 
 
 \ " Let foreign nations of their language boaft, 
 What fine variety each tongue affords ; 
 I like our language, as our men and coaft : 
 
 Who cannot drefs it well, want wit, not words." 
 
 Geo. Herbert. 

 
 Part Hh 
 
 r 
 
 Poetry.
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 Invocation to Apollo — Profe and Poetry contrafted — The Poetry 
 of rural, and of human nature — Poetry defined — Formations of Metre — 
 The diftinftion between Strefs and Accent — Rhyme explained — The 
 caufes which led to the production of Poetry, and its progrefiion — The 
 various fpecies of Poetry, as Paftoral, Defcriptive and Romantic, 
 Dida6lic and Satiric — Of the Styles of Writing — The Power and Glory 
 of Poetry, and its value in the fervice of Religion.
 
 Poetry. 
 
 " Poetry Is the honey of all flowers, the quintefllVnce of all fciences, 
 the marrow of all wits, and the very phrafe of Angels." — John Nash. 
 " Of all thofe arts in which the wife excel. 
 Nature's chief mafter-piece is writing well ; 
 No writing lifts exalted man fo high, 
 As facred and foul-moving Poefy : 
 No kind of work requires fo nice a touch ; 
 And, if well finiflied, nothing fhines fo much." 
 
 John Sheffield, Duke of Eiickinghamjliire. 
 
 ESCEND, ye fplrits* of poetic lore! 
 Lend me your wings, that I may fafely foar 
 To giddy heights of Apollonian fong, 
 And fleer my courfe the Mufe's groves among. 
 
 * " The godlike few, 
 
 Who to the enraptured heart, and ear, and eye. 
 Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody." 
 
 BEATTit's Minjlrel
 
 ^o Poetry. 
 
 Thou for whofe birth, and for vvhofe mother's need, 5 
 
 The fea-born ifle of Delos reared its head ; 
 
 Thou for whofe death the jaws of Python gaped, 
 
 But who through Neptune's timely aid efcaped; 
 
 Infpire my Lay, and guide my ready quill, 
 
 To tell thy greatnefs, and declare thy fkill \ 10 
 
 That power by which the Delphic Sybil fwayed 
 
 The minds of thofe who at thy altar prayed ;* 
 
 That fkill which taught Achaia's claflic lyre. 
 
 And fanned the flame of Rome's poetic fire ;t 
 
 Whofe birth was hailed with Time's firfl: dawning ray, 15 
 
 Whofe life fhall ceafe but with its clofing day. 
 
 The vaft conceptions of the human mind. 
 In language robed, are of a two-fold kind : 
 Laws, Hiftory, Logic, does the one comprifej 
 Truths unadorned, and facSls without difguife j 20 
 
 The voice of Science, and the dire decree 
 Of ftern-eyed Juftice, beft with Prose agree : 
 But when our breaft a gentler theme infpires. 
 The paffions, feelings, fentiments, defires. 
 
 * " Templum autem Apollinis Delphis pofitum eit in monte Parnaffo, 
 in rupe undlque impendente." — JusTiNUS, Lib. 24, Cap. 6. 
 
 f " Phoebus artem 
 
 Canninis, nomenque dedit Poetae." — Horat,, Lib, 4, Car. 6.
 
 Poetry. 5 1 
 
 The flights of Fancy, Hope's aerial dreams, 25 
 
 The purer tributes to Life's turbid ftreams ; 
 
 'Tis then the need of Poesy we find, 
 
 To clothe the thoughts that fill the fwellino; mind 
 
 In ftated meafures, with melodious eafe. 
 
 The hp5;ri: to foften, and the ear to pleafe. 30 
 
 Poetic thought, emerging from the foul 
 On foaring pinions, fpurns the mean control 
 Of vulgar fpeech, and feeks a wider range 
 Of choice expreffions, and a pleafing change. 
 To vary that monotony verbofe, 35 
 
 The foremoft feature of immetric Profe. 
 
 Profe is a pi6ture wherein much is fliade ; 
 Faint are its lights, and oft its colours fade ; 
 But when the fun of Poefy has Ihed 
 
 Its radiance o'er it, all its gloom has fled ; 40 
 
 And hght and eafy melody diffufe 
 A charm refiftlefs o'er the gentle Mufe. 
 
 Poetry appears on every hand to fnine. 
 The needful eflence of that vaft defigri 
 
 Which formed the earth, and blefled with life and light 45 
 The death-like ftillnefs of Chaotic night. 
 When Nature's glories firft were fully ripe. 
 Ere Pan awoke the echoes with his pipe. 
 Or fwains, reclining, tuned the flender reed 
 In fylvan fhadows, or on funny mead, 50 
 
 5 2
 
 52 Poetry. 
 
 In every feature of created life, 
 
 The whifpering zephyr, or the ftorm's rude ftrife, 
 
 The glow of Summer or the Winter's cold, 
 
 The opening bloflbms Spring's firft hours unfold. 
 
 The mellowed tints of Autumn's fhort'ning day, 55 
 
 The breeze that bears the withered leaves away ; 
 
 On all thefe fcenes might Thought untutored dwell. 
 
 And favage bofoms with emotion fwell. 
 
 It needed not to them the treafured ftore 
 
 Of book-worm's learning, or logician's lore, 60 
 
 To fee and feel the harmonies that bind 
 
 Creation's parts : the portals of the mind, 
 
 The vifual orbs, admit the grateful light 
 
 Of Nature's glories, ever frefli and bright ; 
 
 And Thought, awakened, fpreading forth its wings, 65 
 
 Imagination from its fl umber fprings, 
 
 And Fancy lends her foftering aid to free 
 
 The captive Mufe of unflcilled Poefy.* 
 
 " Nor let it faith exceed, 
 
 That Nature forms a ruftic tafte fo nice." — Beattie. 
 
 " Format enim Natura prius nos intus ad omnem 
 Fortunarum habitum ; juvat aut impellat ad iram j 
 Aut ad humum mserore gravi deducit, et angit : 
 Poll efFert animi motus interprete lingua." 
 
 HORAT., Z)f Arte Poetica.
 
 Poetry. 5 3 
 
 Take but one drop from Time's progreffive ftream, 
 One circling day ; when Morning breaks the dream 70 
 
 Of numbering earth, and far o'er diftant hills 
 Aurora's glance the tears of Night difpels ; 
 As, one by one, the ftars retreating fmile 
 A fhori ""adieu" to {lumber for awhile; 
 Awakened choirs in fylvan fanes unite, 75 
 
 And hymn an ode of welcome to the light. 
 The gay-plumed cock, proud herald of the morn, 
 Conducts the Anthem's burden in his turn, 
 While lowing herds and bleating flocks prolong. 
 And fwell the chorus of this opening Song.* 80 
 
 The day advances ; high in Heaven's vaft arch 
 The Sun's bright fteeds purfue their ceafelefs march ; 
 I'he earth is ftirlefs, fave the foliate trees 
 Which, harp-like, moan, refpondent to the breeze; 
 And ftreamlets dancing o'er their pebbly way, 85 
 
 Scatter above their light prifmatic fpray : f 
 
 * " But who the melodies of morn can tell ? 
 
 The wild brook babbling down the mountain fide ; 
 The lowing herd." — Beattie. 
 
 t " The only found 
 
 Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora's fan — 
 
 and the ftirill matin fong 
 
 Of birds on every bough." — Paradife Lojl.
 
 54 Poetry. 
 
 The waving fields, v/ith. golden harvefts rife, 
 
 Vie with the light that killed them into life ; 
 
 The emerald meads, with rainbow tints abound, 
 
 And ftrew their fragrance o'er the fmiling ground.* 90 
 
 As day declines, and twilight's hour draws near, 
 
 Dame Nature's offspring for repofe prepare ; 
 
 And Sol, defcending to the fartheft weft. 
 
 In Ocean's billows feeks his fabled reft — 
 
 That heavenly mirror, bofomed in the earth, 95 
 
 In whofe clear depths the ftars have fecond birth, 
 
 And finny nations, in unnumbered fhoals, 
 
 Throng its vaft labyrinth of coral halls — 
 
 High over head the Night's fair crefcent Queen 
 
 Sheds her pale radiance o'er the peaceful fcene. lOO 
 
 In all this harmony there's more than ftiow. 
 
 More than the eye of Senfe alone can know ; 
 
 'Tis Nature's book fpread open to our view, 
 
 Each page is wifdom, and each thought is new ; 
 
 The parts comprifing one harmonious whole, 105 
 
 Infpire with trueft Poetry the foul. 
 
 * " But mighty Nature bounds as from her birth, 
 The fun is in the heavens, and life on earth j 
 Flowers in the valley, fplendour in the beam j 
 Health in the gale, and frefhnels in the ftream." 
 
 Byron, Lara.
 
 Poetry. 55 
 
 Or turn from Nature, and confider Man, 
 His frame examine, and its ufes fcan ; 
 Death's conftant aim, and vile corruption's prey, 
 A mould'ring tenement of earth-formed clay, no 
 
 Which yet contains, though free from its control, 
 A deathlcfs fpirit — an immortal foul; 
 The foul ordains, the body, ferf-like, yields. 
 And owns the power which Thought's bright fceptre wields. 
 What wondrous fkill, what vaftnefs of defign, 115 
 
 That formed each part, and planned each flender line, 
 Bones, veins and arteries, mufcles, joints and nerves. 
 All have their ufe, and each fome end fubferves : 
 The eye, the index of the hidden mind, 
 Joins with the ear increafing ilore to find ; 120 
 
 The tongue, the thought in fitting fpeech arrays. 
 And thus its import to the world conveys. 
 
 Though fhrewd Invention gave to Poefy birth, 
 Yet this, like other children of the earth. 
 Was naked born, and therefore muft be clad 125 
 
 In garments formed the mortal eye to glad : 
 Enlivening Fancy, penetrating Wit, 
 Language feledled for the fubjeil fit,* 
 
 * " Non fatis eft pulchra efle poemata : dulcia funto, 
 Et quocunque volent, animum auditoris agunto." 
 
 HoRAT., De Arte Poetica.
 
 * 
 
 5 6 Poetry. 
 
 A Mind well ufed to reafon and refle6t, 
 
 Genius to write, and Judgment to corre6l ; 130 
 
 The words well ftrung, in Metre fmooth and free, 
 Melodious all, is perfeft Poefy. 
 
 Concerning Metre, I might juftly fhew 
 The rules by which the words in order flow ; 
 Syllabic length, of meafure the defign, 135 
 
 How many feet compofe the various line ; 
 The Iambus, Trochee, Spondee, Pyrrhic, thefe 
 Are DiiTyllabic ;* while, the tafte to pleafe, 
 And form a fcale to admit the freer ufe 
 
 Of words and phrafes, elfe by law exclufe, 14.O 
 
 We have the Anapaefl:, and Dactyl Mete, 
 Amphi- and Tri-brach, Trifyllabic feet.f 
 
 Iambi, ftrung together in a line 
 Of various length, to pleafe the heavenly Nine, 
 
 * Diflyllabic feet are thus exprefled : — 
 
 Iambus, u — as avert, revenge. 
 
 Trochee, - >j as diftant, dainty. 
 
 Spondee, - - as unwell, bright ray. 
 
 Pyrrhic, w <j as in the, to a. 
 
 -f- Trifyllabic feet are thus expreffed : — 
 
 Anapseft, ■^ ^ - as evermore. 
 
 Daftyl, - u w. as influence. 
 
 Amphibrach, ^ - ^ as del'erting. 
 
 Tribrach, o .... u as (me)morable.
 
 Poetry. 57 
 
 And (hort founds added as the themes require, 145 
 
 In Mete Iambic, mortal minds infpire : 
 
 Heroic verfes to this clafs belong, 
 
 The nobleft meafures in the art of fong. 
 
 Trochaic Metre is as fimply found ; 
 
 Succeflivfe" Trochees with an added found, 150 
 
 In this cafe long ; where emphafis is fought. 
 
 To give a greater force to final thought. 
 
 So Anapaefts, in like fucceilion ftrung, 
 
 Glide in melodious numbers from the tongue ; 
 
 And Amphibrachs, by twos or threes combined, 155 
 
 Beft fuit for Songs, or Lays of amorous kind ; 
 
 Lugubrious ftrains with Dactyls well agree — 
 
 Kind Pity's plaint, or dirge of Mifery. 
 
 I fpare to tell how, in the tripled line, 
 Trochees and Spondees, Daftyls, all combine 160 
 
 To form a Sapphic ftanza, in which Ityle 
 Great Horace wrote, and Southey's talents fmile ; 
 Or how Hexameters the latter tried — 
 Virgilius' Metre, and the Roman's pride : 
 Such things are 'neath the greatnefs of my theme, 165 
 
 And make me wander from my firft-laid fcheme ; 
 Yet would the fubjeft fcarce be deemed complete. 
 If I omit of metric laws to treat, — 
 The tefts by which the afpiring lines are tried, 
 And thus their rhythmic excellence decide. 170
 
 5 8 Poetry. 
 
 Alliterative Metre I would name, 
 A curious by-way to the goal of Fame ; 
 Though now unufed, yet, in the days gone by, 
 Moft frequent found in Ballad Minftrelfy ; 
 Repeated founds, not meafure, guide the verfe, 175 
 
 Of which a triad you may fafe difperfe 
 Throughout one line, or two, to fuit your will ; 
 No proof of Poetry, but wafted fkill.* 
 
 Such, then, the various Metres, by whofe rule 
 Combined, permuted, the Aonian fchool, 180 
 
 In Epic, Lyric, or Dida6lic verfe. 
 Love, Nature, Ethics, Sentiments, rehearfe. 
 
 Strefs, too, with Accent we muft not confound ; 
 Strefs is the meafure. Accent gives the found ; 
 Strefs never alters. Accent varies oft, 185 
 
 In tones now lofty, now fubdued and foft ; 
 
 * Concerning this peculiar ftyle of writing, fee Dr. Percy's " Reliques 
 of Ancient Englifli Poetry." It appears to have been introduced by the 
 Icelandic poets, and is the metre in which the poem of " Pierce Plow- 
 man's Vifion" was written by Robert Langland, about 1386. An example 
 of each ftyle alluded to in the text follows : — 
 
 " Then we Tild down our Tents, 
 That Told were a 9lioufand." 
 
 " In a i'omer iJeafon, when hot was the i'unne, 
 I ^hope me into lyhroubs, as I a 5'hepe were."
 
 Poetry. 59 
 
 The felf-fame word in different garb is clad, 
 
 To fhew the mind in joyous mood or fad ; 
 
 The Accent changes with the changing thought, 
 
 And gives the word the new idea fought.* 190 
 
 Rhvme is the ao;reement in the final founds. 
 By turns recurring in the verfe's rounds : 
 'Twere vain to enumerate the various flyle 
 By which each different Poet can beguile 
 His reader's ears ; or how, like merry chimes, 195 
 
 He rings the changes in permuted rhymes : 
 Some run in couplets, fome in triplets fhine. 
 While others meet in alternated line : 
 Some through the ftanza's length are fo difperfed, 
 We fcarce perceive them till the whole's rehearfed. 200 
 
 But Poetry depends not on the Rhyme ; 
 For fenfe is ofttimes forced to gain the chime :t 
 Each critic's tafte prefers a different ufe, 
 What one approves, offends another's Mufe. 
 
 Before the art of penmanfhip had grown 205 
 
 To conftant ufe, and ftill but fcantly known, 
 
 * See a tra<5l called " npoffw^ia," by James A. Davies, Efq., on the 
 diftin6lion between Strefs and Accent. 
 
 \ " Rime being no neceflary adjunfl or true ornament of poem or 
 good verfe, in longer works efpecially, but the invention of a barbarous 
 age, to fet off wretched matter and lame meeter." — Milton's Preface 
 to Paradife Loft.
 
 6o Poetry. 
 
 Laws, Hiftory, Morals, were in Metre dight, 
 To fix in memory what is hid from fight. 
 
 Cecilia's ftrains, another fource whence fprung 
 The gentle Mufe, as yet in talent young, 2io 
 
 Hence Lyrics termed, which gave to Ballads rife,* 
 Whofe merit feemed dependent on their fize ; 
 Such as the votaries of Odin fang, 
 In hours of peace, or 'mid the battle's clang — 
 Thofe Danifh Scalds, the fires of Britifh Bards, 215 
 
 Blefi'ed with a better (hare of Skill's awards 
 Than other mortals, teachers in the truth 
 Of rude philofophy, Britannia's youth — ■ 
 Thefe were the men, by following in whofe way 
 The Minftrels came, and tuned the fimple lay 220 
 
 To ruftic harps, nor e'en to thefe confined, 
 Employed accompaniments of every kind.f 
 
 * Ballad, from the French Ballade 5 from the Italian Ballata ; Latin, 
 Ballijieum, or Ballijlium ; Greek, [3aX\icr6iov. The meaning is, a fong 
 fung while dancing. 
 
 f " And inftrumentys that did excelle. 
 
 Many moo that I kan telle ; 
 
 Harpys, Fythales, and eke Rotys, 
 
 Well according to their notys, 
 
 Lutys, Ribibles, and Geternes, 
 
 More for Eltatys than Tavernes j 
 
 Organs, Cytolis, Monacordys; 
 
 There were Trumpes, and Trumpettes, 
 
 Loud Shalmes and Doucettes." — John Lidgate.
 
 Poetry. 6 1 
 
 Glcemen,* and Harpers, f Jugleurs,J Jefl:ers,§ thefe 
 
 Were they whofe fongs and rugged verfe could pleafe 
 
 Our ancient fathers, and their breafts infpire 225 
 
 With the firfl: ghmmerings of poetic fire : 
 
 So Norman Trouveurs fang, in later days, 
 
 Of knigiidy deeds, and love's enchanting lays ; 
 
 Which made the blood run fvvift in many a vein. 
 
 And roufed a flumb'ring chivalry again. 230 
 
 Then nobler hands fv/ept o'er the trembling chords. 
 
 And nobler thoughts di6lated nobler words ; 
 
 E'en lion-hearted Richard thought no fcorn 
 
 To fing at night, and draw the fword at morn ; 
 
 And when in gloomy Lowenftein confined, 235 
 
 He thought of England, and for freedom pined, 
 
 t- Gleeman=Af//^z«, a minftrel. The derivation of the word Glee is 
 from the Anglo-Saxon G//g-^ j Icelandic, G%_§-ztr 5 fignifying mufic, or 
 minftrelfy. 
 
 f The Harp has been a univerfal inftrument with all nations, as may 
 be feen from its prefence in the following languages: — Ang. Sax., 
 Hearpe, Hearpa 5 Iceland., Harpa, Haiirpa-j Dan , Belg., Gal., Harpe ; 
 Germ., Harpffe ; Span., Harpa-, Ital., Arpa. 
 
 X Jugleurs. The Latin Joculator is ufed by various writers to exprefs 
 a minflrel; fo the French Jongleur and Jugleur, and the Spanifti Jutglar 
 and Juglar. As it became a part of the minftrel's performance to exhibit 
 tricks of legerdemain, the word Jogelour, Jogeler, Jugler, or Juggler 
 came to mean a trickfter. 
 
 § Jefters,oi- Gejlers, relaters oiGeJh (G^<?), tales of fiftion or of humour.
 
 6 2 Poetry. 
 
 He heard the fong, fo often heard before, 
 
 Sung by his faithful Blondel then once more ; 
 
 And when the minftrel ceafed his voice midway, 
 
 The joyful king took up the unfinifhed lay :* 240 
 
 And long may minftrel bards rejoice and fmg, 
 
 'Twas Verfe that found and faved a long-loft king. 
 
 Such, then, the authors, and the fimple ftyle 
 Of thofe primeval Ballads, which could wile 
 The weary hours of twilight's lingering fall, 245 
 
 In rural cot or old anceftral hall ; 
 
 * To Percy's " EfTays on the Ancient Minftrels " I am indebted for 
 the following copy of the original fong, in the Provencal language, to 
 which he appends a tranflation by Dr. Burney : — 
 
 Blondel. 
 " Donna voftra beutas 
 Elas bellas faiffos 
 Els bels oils amoros 
 Els gens cors ben taillats 
 Don fien emprefenats 
 De voftra amo qui mi lia." 
 
 Richard. 
 
 " Si bel trop afFanfia 
 Ja de vos non portrai 
 Que major honorai 
 Sol en votra deman' 
 Que fautra des beifan 
 Tot can de vos vohia."
 
 Poetry. 6 3 
 
 When to the fofc-toned harp's narcotic chime 
 The minftrel fpun the tale in jingling rhyme. 
 But brighter days now dawned upon the Mufe, 
 No more (hould wandering bards her art abufe, 250 
 
 But abler hands affume the trembling lyre, 
 And abler hearts to loftier thoughts afpire. 
 If Nature form the gifted Poet's theme, 
 Of fields the culture, and the ready team, 
 The various fruits the feafons yield in turn, 255 
 
 When north winds freeze, or fierce firocco's burn ; 
 Such as the thoughts of Virgil's mafter-mind. 
 When he the care of herds, and bees defined ; 
 Though rich in paftoral beauties, fuch themes fail 
 To gain much honour in the afcending fcale. 260 
 
 'Tis vain to tell upon a fummer's eve. 
 
 How mighty tempers in their fury rave ; 
 
 Or yet defcribe the fields of Alpine fnow. 
 
 Beneath the fervour of the Tropic's glow ; 
 
 The ear receives, the memory puts them by 265 
 
 As fimple fadls ; but to the mental eye 
 
 They have no fubftance, make no flender chord 
 
 Vibrate in harmony with every word : 
 
 Yet if with thefe he fliould enweave a tale, 
 
 A clear defcription, with minute detail, 270 
 
 Where truth is made apparent in each line. 
 
 And man's exploits with Nature's life combine ;
 
 64 Poetry. 
 
 The reader feels a fympathy within, 
 
 Which lures him on through each fucceflive fcene. 
 
 And if, in Epic or Heroic verfe, 275 
 
 The rife or fall of nations he rehearfe; 
 The call to arms, the march o'er many a league. 
 An empire's glory flained by bafe intrigue — 
 How many an arm convulfive ftarts to wield 
 The patriot's fword, a country's fame to fhield, 280 
 
 And maledictions heap upon the flave 
 Who dug for valour an inglorious grave. 
 Such were the themes to which great Homer foared — 
 The Prince of Poets ; honoured and adored 
 By all the votaries at Apollo's Shrine — 285 
 
 The glorious link 'twixt human and divine ! 
 
 Didaftic verfe inftruftion's voice conveys, 
 Ofttimes in allegoric form, as Gay's, 
 Or ^fop's fables, where the foullefs brute 
 Is made the means man's wifdom to confute. 290 
 
 Reproving Satire, too, we here include, 
 Since, blaming evil, it exhorts to good ; 
 For that which points to Folly's doom the way 
 Will fureft turn the erring foot away. 
 
 For each, thefe outlets of the Poet's mind, 295 
 
 A different ftyle of writing we may find ; 
 The greater Ode, which loftiell: themes engage, 
 Whofe changing verfe depicts the paffions' rage,
 
 Poetry. 65 
 
 Joy's rapturous fong, or Temper's vengeful ftorms, 
 
 And martial hearts with love of glory vi^arms. 300 
 
 The lefler Ode in fimpler meafure flows, 
 Yet wakes the flumbering fpirit as it goes j 
 Like fome foft zephyr, takes a palling fip 
 From each bright flowret's honey-laden lip ; 
 Ambrofial nedlar fprinkling o'er the ground, 705 
 
 And fcattering fragrant perfumes all around. 
 The Sonnet, in its fourteen lines complete, 
 For eulogiftic poetry's chiefly meet ; 
 Short, pithy medium to imprefs a thought. 
 The form concife, in which deep truths are taught. 310 
 
 But time would fail to fhew the various guife 
 In which the Poet's mufmgs greet our eyes ; 
 For each bright mind that wakes the Aonian ftrain 
 Has fome frefh mode attendant Thought to gain : 
 A differing tafte, in each who writes or reads ; 315 
 
 What one deems flowers, another fcorns as weeds. 
 
 Such, then, is Poetry, whofe angelic birth 
 Was hailed coeval with the dawning earth ; 
 Who roamed at large through Eden's peaceful bowers, 
 Whofe voice ftill founds in language of the flowers, 320 
 
 Borne in foft murmuring cadence on the breeze. 
 Gives earth a lay, and anthems to the trees. 
 The voice of Poetry calms the ftorm-toffed breaft. 
 And lulls the toil-ftrained faculties to reft ; 
 
 F
 
 66 Poetry. 
 
 And e'en the fpirit that objects to bend 325 
 
 To ftern reproof, a ready ear will lend. 
 
 As Lavand ftalks perfume Arabia's waftes, 
 So Poetry's voice can elevate the taftes 
 Of defert-minded mortals, and infill 
 
 More generous feelings, curb the ftubborn will, 330 
 
 And bind the fenfes with a grateful chain, 
 Lulled by the fweetnefs of its foothing ftrain. 
 
 How great the privilege, how proud the right. 
 How wide the influence of the Poet's might ! 
 What vaft conceptions, what expanfive thought, 335 
 
 What gleams of heavenly infpiration caught ! 
 Whofe tones through iEther quiver while he fmgs, 
 Like errant plumes from fome bright feraph's wings. 
 
 Achaia's chiefeft glory fprung from this — 
 Her fons were early taught to feel the blifs 340 
 
 Derived from verfe, and the attendant throng 
 Of thoughts and feelings which infpire the fong. 
 
 The brightening flame, which from Parnaflus' creft 
 Aroufed the Mufe in many a Grecian breaft, 
 Gleamed with unwonted fplendour on that day 345 
 
 Which rofe to greet earth's champion of the Bay — 
 Immortal Homer ! whofe time-honoured name 
 Binds, as a key, the arch of lyric fame ; 
 While Lefbian Sappho, as the Tenth Mufe known, 
 With Hefiod, Pindar, Virgil, Horace, fhone, 350
 
 Poetry. 67 
 
 The pricelefs gems that decked the golden pile, 
 Sunned by the Heliconian Mufes' fmile. 
 
 In earlier ages fped the Poet's pen, 
 And higher, holier were its ufes then ; 
 
 Religion's mantle, Infpiration's voice, 355 
 
 The People's anthem, and the Prophet's choice. 
 Graced by whofe meafures, and melodious thrill. 
 Earth's oldeft record is exiftent ftill. 
 Ifaiah's fpirit breathed its heaven-caught fire 
 In glov/ing melody from Judah's lyre, 360 
 
 Which bore refponfive on its trembling firing 
 The fweet cantations of the Poet King. 
 As then, fo ftill is verfe the heart's beft tongue. 
 When fwelled by mercies, or by forrows wrung ; 
 To give a greater earneftnefs to Praife, 365 
 
 And faithful Prayer in nobler accents raife. 
 
 Then let not vulgar mortals dare to fcan. 
 Or meafure out, by their contracted fpan. 
 The boundlefs fields where roams the Poet's mind, 
 To no dull fpot of lifelefs thought confined ; 370 
 
 Imagination's flight is his to try, 
 To Fancy's realms, beyond the reach of eye, 
 And, upward borne on Infpiration's wing. 
 Finds Heaven his home, and God the Poet's king I 
 
 F 2
 
 part m. 
 
 Englifti Poetry and Poets.
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 Thk Subje6t piopofed — A chronological notice of all the principal 
 Poets of England, from Caedmon to Tennyfon — Conclufion.
 
 Englifh Poetry and Poets. 
 
 r 
 
 " I hold that no man can have any juft conception of the Hiftory of 
 England, who has not often read, and meditated, and learnt to love the 
 great Poets of England." — Sir. J.'^mes Stephen on Defultory and 
 Syjiematic Reading. 
 
 USHED is the harp that laureate Homer ftrung, 
 When he the OdyfTey and Iliad fung ; 
 Lulled to its reft is Virgil's paftoral lute — 
 Nor Alban echoes hear the fliepherd's flute, 
 Thefe were but agents, landmarks on the road, 5 
 
 Channels through which the Lyric ftreamlets flowed, 
 That ftill roll on, through other lands conveyed, 
 To plant in them the true poetic grade. 
 
 Again, my gentle Mufe, thy harp affume. 
 And bear thy tuneful part, while I prefume 10
 
 72 EngiiJJ:) Poetry and Poets. 
 
 To fing the merits of that glorious band — 
 The Bards and Poets of our native land. 
 
 Ye rifen fpirits, lights vouchfafed awhile 
 To glad low earth, and cheer life's dark defile ; 
 Yet now exalted to a brighter fphere, 15 
 
 To join with feraphs in the heavenly choir ; 
 Diffufe, once more, a kindly guiding ray, 
 Infpire with zeal, and fliew the Fame-bound way, 
 By which, Britannia's Bards, ye fought and won 
 Laurels on earth, in Heaven a lafting crown. 20 
 
 The proto-poet on the fcroll of Fame, 
 The firft afpirant to that noble name, 
 England's firft legate at the Mufes' court, 
 To plead Religion's greatnefs of import,* 
 Was Caedmon, who, while fleeping by his herds, 25 
 
 Felt on his lips the thrill of heavenly words ; 
 And, waking, found he could with eafe rehearfe 
 Creation's excellence in " moft fweet verfe." 
 
 Then Shireburn's Bifhopf feized the trembling lyre, 
 And tuned the chords the Saxon clowns to infpire ; 30 
 
 Bequeathed by him to Winchefter's divines, 
 Cynewulf and Wulfftan, through whofe Latin lines 
 
 * " Nihil unquam frivoli et fupervacui poematis facere potuit 5 fed ea 
 tantummodo quae ad religionem pertinent, religiofam ejus linguam 
 decebant." — See Bede's Hijl. Eccles. Anglor., Lib. 4, Cap. 24. 
 
 f Aldhelm.
 
 EngliJJo Poetry a fid Poets. 73 
 
 The Mufe of Britain, like a cloiftered nun, 
 
 Or cloud-veiled moon, in unfeen brightnefs fhone. 
 
 Bold Coeur-de-Lion, in the hours of peace, 35 
 
 Employed the treafured moments of releafe 
 From war's confufion, or the cares of ftate, 
 In minftrel arts, and owned the pleafure great. 
 
 Herman, and Bofon, Gualo, Churche, and Map,* 
 De Rames, and Wireker filled up the gap ; 40 
 
 Till Jofeph Ifcanus fhone, a brighter ftar, 
 And wrote in Latin of the Trojan war. 
 But England's Mufe now ftruggled for her right, 
 And claimed to be in native language dight ; 
 Awhile old cuftom thwarted the defign, 45 
 
 The ancient tongue with newer phrafe to entwine ; 
 And thus a blending of the two was made. 
 Of both compofed, yet each in part difplayed. 
 
 Then Rhyming Chroniclers aflumed the harp, 
 And hiftories wrote for Jogeloursf to " carp : J " 50 
 
 The firft was Layamon, of Ernely prieft, 
 Who England's ftore of literature increafed. 
 By Britain's hiflory in verfe defcribed, 
 From Wace's work, " Brut d'Angleterre," tranfcribed. 
 
 * Walter Mapes, ufually called Map. 
 f See Part III., note to line 223. J To recite.
 
 74 Englijh Poetry and Poets. 
 
 Then came De Brunne, whofe wondrous fkill in rhyme 55 
 
 Will make his name renowned till end of time ; 
 
 While Gloucefter Robert annalled Anglia's might, 
 
 The fierce Crufade, and ftruggle for the right. 
 
 By Langland followed, whofe fatiric vein 
 
 Strove, in *' Piers Plowman's Vifion," to obtain 60 
 
 For dull alliterative Mete* renown, 
 
 And thus by trick, not merit, win the crown. 
 
 Then " ancient Gower" ftirred the fire of Fame, 
 And carved in deathlefs chara6lers his name ; 
 The three great effortsf of his noble mind 65 
 
 Pillowed his head, in death's deep fleep reclined j 
 Whofe tafk unfiniftied lay for abler hands 
 To accomplifh — he, whofe name fupremely ftands 
 The head, and chief of England's Poet fons, 
 Chaucer, the equal of earth's greateft ones, 70 
 
 The Father, Founder of a better ftyle,;]: 
 Whofe gliding verfe could many an hour beguile ; 
 
 * See Part III., note to line 178. 
 
 f The " Speculum Meditantis," " Vox Clamantis," and " Confeffio 
 Amantis." The effigies of thefe three works fupport his head on the 
 tomb erefted to him in the church of St. Saviour, Southwark. 
 
 J " Such was old Chaucer — fuch the placid mien 
 Of him who firft with harmony informed 
 The language of our fathers." — Akenside.
 
 E?jgli/Ji Poetry aitd Poets. 75 
 
 Whofe fun yet flione not cloudlefs through his day, 
 Awhile misfortune veiled its cheering ray,* 
 Which beamed once more through fad affli6lion's gloom, 75 
 And, fetting, lit the Poet to his tomb. 
 
 Then Minot, Capgrave, Hoccleve, verfes blent. 
 Which laft difplayed the " Art of Government :" 
 Lydgate's expanding talents graced each tafk. 
 Whether for mumming, pageantry, or mafque \ 80 
 
 He found no theme too lofty for his Mufe, 
 Nor yet to cheer the lowlieft would refufe ; 
 He won the hearts of low-born and of great. 
 Men of all ages, and of every ftate ; 
 
 So well, fo fkilfully he played his part, 85 
 
 That Poetry became a favorite branch of art. 
 
 Statefman, foldier, poet, all combined, 
 Prowefs of arms, and magnitude of mind ;t 
 Such was Earl Rivers, Widville's noble fon. 
 Who Fame's award by twofold method won ; 90 
 
 Could draw the fword as chief at Alnwick's fight. 
 And fage philofophy in peace indite. 
 Then pious Bale aflumed the Mufes' pen, 
 And ftrove to win the hearts of erring men ; 
 
 • He was confined three years in the Tower. 
 
 f " Vir, haud facile difcernas manuve aut confilio promptior." — Sir 
 Thomas More.
 
 76 EngliJJi Poetry and Poets. 
 
 John Baptift's life and preaching fet to verfe, 95 
 
 God's promifed blefling, and His threatened curfe. 
 
 Merry John Heywood interludes* compofed, 
 
 And all the tricks of Popery expofed : 
 
 While Tufler prelTed Dame Nature in his caufe, 
 
 And wrote of " Hufbandry" the various laws. 100 
 
 Improving Wyattf next fwept o'er the chords, 
 
 And clad his mufings in more polifhed words; 
 
 Yet wanting that fublimity of thought, 
 
 And actual feeling, which can draw, when fought, 
 
 A ray of funfhine from the coldeft heart, 105 
 
 And kindly Hope to fainting fouls impart. 
 
 At length, however, England's Mufe acquired. 
 In noble Surrey, one whofe mind afpired 
 To gentler themes, the varied power of Love 
 The hardeft hearts from their ftrongholds to move ; no 
 
 How abfence heightens, and difdain drives mad. 
 While fhared afFe6lion makes the heart moft glad : 
 
 * Pieces played in the interval of entertainments. 
 
 f The Earl of Surrey wrote the following lines, being part of a com- 
 plaint for Sir Thomas Wyatt's death : — 
 
 " A vifage ftern and mild ; where both did grow, 
 Vice to contemn, in virtue to rejoice ; 
 Amid great ftorms, whom grace aflured fo, 
 
 To live upright, and fmile at Fortune's choice."
 
 E?igHJJi Poetry and Poets. jj 
 
 All thefe he fang, but in a better phrafe, 
 
 And purer metre, than had learnt to grace 
 
 The lyric labors of an earlier Bard : j 15 
 
 With him the language grew lefs forced and hard j 
 
 He firft eflijyed to fcorn the jingling chime 
 
 Of fenfe-confining, ear-attra<Sl:ing rhyme ; 
 
 And range, unfettered, through a wider field 
 
 Of fpeech, adapted higher thoughts to gild. 120 
 
 Grimalde took courage from his bolder flight. 
 
 And fhewed in " Death of Zoroas" his might : 
 
 Baldwin and Vaux the fteep ParnafTus dared, 
 
 And in the bays of laureate Surrey fhared. 
 
 " Of gentle race, and wanting wealth alone," 125 
 
 The fport of Fortune, pleafing Churchyard fhone ; 
 In youth a Soldier, and a Bard in age. 
 With fword or pen could equally engage. 
 By Edwards* followed, to whofe ready Mufe 
 The a6l was one, to teach, and to amufe ; 130 
 
 To whom the drama and the joyous mafque 
 Alike owed much, however great the tafk. 
 Sackville was firft in tragic, as was Vere 
 In comic writing : Chettle's works appear 
 
 * " He was the firft fidelle, the most faftiionable fonneteer, the readielt 
 rhymer, and the moft facetious mimic of the Court." — Warton.
 
 yS Eng/iJ/i Poetry and Poets. 
 
 A vaft addition to the Mufe's ftore, 135 
 
 In cultivation of dramatic lore; 
 
 Such, too, was Whetftone, whofe effe6live power 
 
 Could prefs the gall from many a bitter hour. 
 
 But now a higher grade upon the fcale 
 Of metric excellence we fee prevail 140 
 
 In lofty Spenfer's mufic-breathing verfe. 
 Replete with fancy, and expreflions terfe ; 
 So pure, fo rich in melody his lyre. 
 That many, even of his fweetnefs, tire. 
 
 The world, to him, was one of fiiiries bright, 145 
 
 Spirits that haunt the dewy meads by night ; 
 Emblems, by which he fought to teach mankind 
 What pricelefs virtues fhelter in the mind. 
 
 Peele, " Poetry's Atlas," Munday, Lodge, laid claim. 
 With claflic Chapman,* to dramatic fame ; 150 
 
 While Warner wrote, and martyred Southwell f gave 
 Poetic feeds, to bloflbm o'er his grave. 
 And Greene, prolific in attainments all. 
 Who drank moft deeply of afiliilion's gall ; 
 
 * He was the author of a moft excellent tranflation of Homer, 
 which is thus alluded to in his epitaph : — " Georgius Chapmanus— 
 Poeta Homericus Philofophus verus, (etfi Chriftianus Poeta,) plufquam 
 Celebris.'" 
 
 f See his life by Dr. Johnfon.
 
 'Englijld Foe try and Poets. 79 
 
 Whofe brow, in death, a bay-leaved chaplet graced,* 155 
 
 That brow which, living, fcarce had where to reft. 
 
 And " fober-minded" Daniel claims a niche. 
 
 In language formal, yet in feeling rich ; 
 
 While Drayion's claffic and engaging Mufe 
 
 Failed not all fedls and clafles to amufe.f 160 
 
 But now our hiftory brings us to the year 
 When rofe the nobleft, and the brighteft ftar 
 That ever graced the firmament of Song, 
 Or ever can to Poetry's fky belong — 
 
 The " Swan of Avon," Shak:efpeare,:j: lofty mind, 165 
 
 Deep in philofophy, in art refined ; 
 Powerful in verfe, upholder of the ftage, 
 Bard of all countries, and of every age — 
 Oh ! that thy fpirit might, in thefe days, tread 
 The fhades of earth, and further radiance fhed ; 170 
 
 * " His cofpfe was decked by his weeping hollefs — who, fays Harvey, 
 loved him dearly — with a garland of bays, purfuant to his laft requeft." 
 — Johnson's Li-ves of the Poets. 
 
 f " Among fcholars, foldiers, poets, and all forts of people, was helde 
 for a man of virtuous difpofition, honeft converfation, and well-governed 
 carriage."— Meres, 
 
 \ " Great poet, 'twas thy art 
 
 To know thyfelf, and in thyfelf to be 
 Whate'er Love, Hate, Ambition, Deftiny, 
 Or the firm fatal purpole of the heart 
 Can make of man." — Hartley Coleridge.
 
 8o Englijl: Poetry and Poets. 
 
 Thy foes to filence, and, before their fight, 
 
 Difplay the proofs of thy aflerted right. 
 
 How vain the thought which would afcribe to birth 
 
 A man's diftin6lion, or his place on earth ! 
 
 'Tis Mind that makes a noble or a flave, 175 
 
 And Mind to Shakefpeare all his honors gave — 
 
 Gave him a name which fcandal ftrives in vain. 
 
 With all its petty jealoufies, to ftain — 
 
 That e'en the nobleft might with pride avow, 
 
 The blood of Shakefpeare fills my pulfes now. 180 
 
 This was the era of dramatic fway, 
 When Nafli and Marlowe ftruggled for the bay ; 
 And Dekker, Heywood, Middleton, and Green 
 Could give an interefl: to the painted fcene. 
 While milder tapers fhewed their weaker flames, 1H5 
 
 Of whom we note in pafiing but the names ; 
 Rowlands, and Johnfon, Davies, Barnfield, Donne, 
 Each, in his day, fome fhare of fame has won. 
 
 Then " rare Ben Jonfon," born in much diftrefs. 
 Saw brighter profpe6i:s, when the good Queen Befs, 190 
 " With her judicious favours, did infufe 
 Courage and ftrength into his youthful Mufe ;" 
 Yet Fortune's fport he never ceafed to be. 
 And faithlefs friends accufed him wrongfully, 
 While to his confl:ant and elaborate pains, 195 
 
 Our country's lore owes much that it contains.
 
 FjUgliJli Poetry and Poets. 8 1 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, Rowley, Brewer, Field, 
 With rapid Maflinger,* whofe doom was fealed 
 In one fhort hour, deferted, and alone, 
 
 Buried, a ftranger, and without a ftone : 200 
 
 Thefe all contributed to England's ftage 
 Labours whofe value lefTens not with ao;e. 
 
 Fairfax tranflated TafTo with a fkill, 
 And power of harmony, which cannot fail 
 To raife a tribute to his Mufe's worth, 205 
 
 Among the brighteft Poet-fons of earth. 
 Taylor, the " Water Poet," next appears. 
 Who filled his wherry with Aonian wares. 
 Sonnets and Satires, Epigrams, and wit, 
 For all occafions and requirements fit. 210 
 
 "Crabb'd" Webfter, Drummond, melancholy Ford,t 
 With gentle Braithwaite, claim a paffing word ; 
 Wither difplayed the vices of his times. 
 In maudlin mafies of ungraceful rhymes. 
 
 =='■ " Maffinger, that knows 
 
 The ftrength of plot to write in verfe and profe ,- 
 
 Whofe ealy Pegafus will amble o'er 
 
 Some threeicore miles of Fancy in an hour," 
 
 Langbaine. 
 
 f " Deep in a dmnp John Ford alone was gat. 
 With folded arms and melancholy hat." 
 
 G
 
 8 2 EngliJJi Poetry and Poets. 
 
 Witty Carew,* and Nature-loving Browne,! 215 
 
 Both perfe6l poets, won a good renown ; 
 
 So fimple Herrick, who procured the feeds 
 
 Of Poefy's flowers on Devon's fertile meads ; 
 
 And pious Quarles, in fentiment profufe, 
 
 Yet poor in judgment, and in fancy's ufe. 220 
 
 Moft worthy Herbert fhould efteem procure, 
 Sincere in thought, and prailical as pure ; 
 Chriftian, Poet, Orator, in all, 
 Good and confiftent, whatfoe'er his call. 
 
 Shirley endeavoured, though in vain, to improve 225 
 
 The Englifh Drama, and its faults remove ; 
 Munro and Cleveland next in order come. 
 With rare Ben Jonfon's fervant, Richard Brome ■.% 
 Declaimant Mayne, dramatic Davenant fhone ; 
 Pathetic Habington frefh laurels won. 230 
 
 Then fportive Waller, full of amorous fire, 
 A poet born, afllimed the cheerful lyre, 
 
 * " An elegant and almoft forgotten writer, whofe poems delerve to 
 be revived." — Dr. Percy. 
 
 \ " Vir omni humana literatura, et bonarum artium cognitions 
 inftru6lus." — Regijier of Exeter College. 
 
 J " I had you for a fervant once, Dick Brome, 
 And you performed a fervant's faithful parts; 
 Now you are got into a nearer room 
 
 Of fellow/hip, profeffing my old arts." — BcN JoNSON.
 
 Englifh Poetry and Poets. 8 3 
 
 And tuned the chords to foftly gliding lays, 
 
 Love-breSthing lines, in SacharilTa's praife. 
 
 Randolph and Killegrew fuftained the flame, 235 
 
 Till, robed in majefty of thought, there came 
 
 The faireft -jewel in the Mufes' crown — 
 
 Dark-fighted Milton, who acquired renown, 
 
 And fame undying, by that vaft device, 
 
 The lofs and after-gain of Paradife. 240 
 
 " No vulgar hero could his fong engage. 
 
 Nor earth's wide fcene confine his hallowed rage ; 
 
 His fpirit upward fprang, and, foaring high. 
 
 Spurned the dull province of mortality." * 
 
 Wit, humour, talent, elegance, and eafe, 245 
 
 Combined in Suckling, cannot fail to pleafe ; 
 Crafhaw and Cartwright,t Killegrev/ and Alore, 
 All helped to fill the Mufe's varied ftore ; 
 Till Hudibraftic Butler feized the pen. 
 
 And roufed a flumbering Poefy again. 250 
 
 Denham wrote well, and ftrove, v/ith zealous will. 
 The tafk, commenced by many, to fulfil ; 
 Though much he did, yet left he much to do. 
 For other minds his labours to purfue. 
 
 * Addilbn. 
 
 f " Cartwright was the utmoft man couIJ coins to." — Dr.. Fell. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 EnglifJi Poetry and Poets. 
 
 By Cowley followed, fport for every wind 255 
 
 Of fickle fortune, yet whofe foaring mind, 
 On eagle pinions, urged its upward flight, 
 And, borne on -^ther, fung a " hymn to light ;" 
 Who, midft the roughnefs of his chequered way, 
 Could thus, in enviable contentment, fay — 260 
 
 " This only grant me, that my means may lie 
 Too low for envy, for contempt too high." 
 
 The Mufe of Lovelace, like a caged lark. 
 Sang in a prifon, dreary, damp, and dark. 
 Confiftent Marvell courtly favour fcorned, 265 
 
 And peers and people of their follies warned. 
 Villiers evinced a fair dramatic tafte. 
 While Cotton's themes on fharp burlefque were bafed. 
 
 But now a comet, in the Mufes' fky. 
 Faffed every minor conftellation by; 270 
 
 And, robed in all the majefty of light. 
 Merged e'en the brighteft planets into night — 
 The fweet tranflator of Virgilius' ftrain. 
 Who fang of Cymon, and fair Iphigene — 
 Dryden, whofe claflic and infpiring lays 275 
 
 Have tended moft the Mufes' fane to raife ; 
 Who, like Auguftus with imperial Rome, 
 Found it but brick, and left it polifhed ftone ;* 
 
 * Lateritiam Invenit, marmoream reliquit.
 
 Efiglifi Poetry and Poets. 85 
 
 With whom, Rofcommon* trod the path to Fame, 
 
 And, by his morals, won a lafling name. 280 
 
 Sprat, Etheridge, Dorfet, in the various grade 
 
 Of metric excellence, their power difplayed : 
 
 Sedley and Shadwell ftudied to engage 
 
 The public tafte, by writing for the ftage ; 
 
 And witty Rochefter debafed his mind, 285 
 
 To ape the meaneft of the human kind. 
 
 Sheffield and Lee as paffing meteors fhone, 
 
 While Blackmore greatnefs through " Creation" won. 
 
 D'Urfey in Lyrics and the Drama gained 
 
 Refpedt from all, and many a friend obtained : 290 
 
 And Otway, verfed in the efFe6live fkill 
 
 To roufe his lifteners' paffions at his will. 
 
 Oldham, Dennis, Garth, flowed with the ftream, 
 
 And Johnfon's Mufe, in Comedy fupreme : 
 
 Walfh, too, and Southern, Halifax,! and King, 295 
 
 Strove, each, fome honour on his Mufe to bring. 
 
 Then followed Prior, who human pride declaimed. 
 
 That rafh afpiring, which fo vainly aimed. 
 
 * " Rofcommon, not more learned than good, 
 
 With nianners generous as his noble blood." — Pope. 
 
 ■j- " The noble Montague, 
 
 For wit, for honour, and for judgment famed," — Addison.
 
 86 EngHJJj Poetry and Poets. 
 
 " With empty labour, and eluded ftrife, 
 
 Seeking by knowledge to attain to life." 300 
 
 The mind's advancement he in "Alma" fung, 
 
 And fhowed that age in wifdom might be young; 
 
 Unconquered love, and ever-during flame, 
 
 His Henry's hope, and Emma's faith proclaim. 
 
 Thus Time progrefled, and, on its opening page, 305 
 
 Blazoned in gold, was many a Poet fage ; 
 Till one fhone out, difplayed in cleareft light, 
 A name familiar to each critic's fight — 
 Swift, whofe keen arrows of fatiric verfe 
 Could many a fog of flattery difperfe : 3^'-' 
 
 His themes were lively, and his metre free; 
 His words well fuited with the thoughts to agree ; 
 A ftyle original, and nowhere ftrained. 
 Has lafling favour for his Mufe obtained. 
 Smith's talents (hone in every branch of art, 315 
 
 And Yalden's verfe in Fame's award had part : 
 Pindaric Philips owned a nimble quill. 
 But Poetry owes no progrefs to his fkill. 
 Not fo the cafe with him whofe claflic mind, 
 By wit enlivened, and by art refined, 320 
 
 Clothed in the garb of pure confiflent truth 
 The worthy efforts of his opening youth, 
 Great, noble Addifon, who ever ftrove 
 To fteer his courfe by principle and love —
 
 EngHJJj Poetry and Poets. 87 
 
 Love to his Maker and his fellow-man, 325 
 
 Yet fcorned not Fame, which no true merit can. 
 
 Next followed Congreve, of whofe gifted Mufe 
 The aim and power was chiefly to amufe ; 
 His forte ,\yas Comedy, profufe in wit, 
 
 A mirrored Nature, in true Poefy writ. 330 
 
 Rowe, on the contrary, of ferious mind. 
 To deep-toned Tragedy his pen inclined ; 
 And pious Watts, in all attainments fkilled, 
 The polls of Paftor and of Poet filled. 
 
 As Virgil fhewed the culture of the Vine, 335 
 
 So Philips fang the Apple and its Wine ;* 
 Hughes was a wit, and amiable Parnell 
 Could moft in honey-worded verfe excel. 
 Broome, too, and Weft, had each his meed of praife, 
 And fwelled the number of our country's lays. 340 
 
 With them bold Young, who wrote, with truthful pen. 
 The eftimated life of mortal men ; 
 The thoughts of Night's dark watches he revealed, 
 And told the pangs an aching heart concealed j 
 The love of Fame, Ambition's fatelefs fire, 345 
 
 Unpurchafed glory, and unquenched defire. 
 
 Fenton, Hill, and Tickell cleared the way 
 For ruftic, mirthful, and inftrudlive Gay, 
 
 * The poem alluded to is called " Cider/'
 
 8 8 E?tgliJJj Poetry and Poets. 
 
 Who couched in fables good and wholefome truth, 
 
 To warn old age, and guide advancing youth ; 350 
 
 And whofe " complete and generous labours lie 
 
 Finifhed and ripe for immortality." 
 
 Profufe in fatire, yet diveft withal 
 
 Of unkind thoughts, or heart-eftranging gall. 
 
 The year that faw his fame-bent courfe begin, 355 
 
 Another fon of greatnefs ufliered in : 
 Immortal Pope, who man's eftate defined — 
 Abjlra5l^ concrete^ political^ refined^ 
 In verfe heroic Homer's mind conveyed. 
 And Satire's palm o'er all his compeers fwayed. 360 
 
 Quaint Byrom, Somerville, and Lillo found 
 Increafing pleafures in the Mufe abound. 
 Bourne in a Latin robe his verfes dreft ; 
 Theobald figured in the Dunciad's lift.* 
 
 But paufe a moment, and with love regard 365 
 
 A highly-gifted, forrow-ftricken bard ; 
 Savage, whofe birth a parent's guilt unfurled. 
 Doomed to negledl, and thrown upon the world ; 
 Whom, though Affli£lion branded for her own. 
 Yet his brave heart through all his troubles fhonej 370 
 
 " Infpired his honeft Mufe with orient flame 
 To rife, to dare, to reach the nobleft aim ;" 
 
 * The " Dunciad" was a fatiric poem by Pope.
 
 Englifli Poetry and Poets. 89 
 
 " Myriads unborn may mourn his haplefs fate, 
 And myriads grow, by his example, great."* 
 
 Pitt, by his " Vida," ftruggled for renown, 375 
 
 And Virgil's "^neid" won for him a crov/n. 
 We fee in-Thomfon Spring-time's opening joy, 
 And Summer flowers his warming Mufe employ ; 
 Brown Autumn's tints and fruits for notice throng. 
 And chilly Winter end his " Seafons' " fong. 380 
 
 The works of " Liberty" his paflion fired. 
 The nations' changes his bold Mufe infpired, 
 How Rome lies low, and Britain's freedom ftands. 
 While Arts and Science ftrengthen in her hands. 
 His verfe contained, throughout its varied plot, 385 
 
 " No line which, dying, he would wifh to blot." 
 
 Mallett a chaplet of remembrance wove, 
 In ^' Edwin and Emma's" constancy and love ; 
 Dyer, Armftrong, Lyttleton, demand 
 A line, as members of the Lyric band. 390 
 
 Johnfon,t whofe fame diftils through rolling years. 
 And ftill the brighter, and more pure appears. 
 Loved not, as other fervants of the Mufe, 
 The aid of fancy in his works to ufe ; 
 
 * From his poem called " The Wanderer." 
 f Dr. Samuel Johnfon.
 
 90 EngliJJi Poetry and Poets. 
 
 With him pre-eminent was Reafon's claim — 395 
 
 A fteady fire, and not a flickering flame. 
 
 Glover, Relph, Moore, and Thompfon had their day ; 
 And fimple Shenftone threw a cheering ray 
 O'er many a dark and gloom-horizoned fcene, 
 In humorous Tallies, unalloyed by fpleen ; 400 
 
 While laureate Whitehead taught that greatnefs lies 
 In being virtuous, and being wife. 
 
 Gray deeply drank at Learning's cryftal well, 
 And knew in Poetry, as in Art, to excel ; 
 With whom, colucent, Collins' claffic Mufe, 405 
 
 Whofe high-toned fkill would trifling themes refufe, 
 The feelings ftudied, while with gentle fire 
 
 Odes to the Paflions trembled on his lyre. 
 " Imagination" Akenfide difplayed. 
 
 While Warton's Mufe with "Melancholy" Arrayed. 410 
 
 Unftudied elegance, and graceful eafe. 
 
 In genial Goldfmith's verfe muft ever pleafe. 
 
 " The Shipwreck" gained for Falconer renown. 
 
 And Churchill's " Rofciad" was his worthieft crown. 
 
 Cowper was rich in patriotic zeal, 415 
 
 Relio-ious earneftnefs his words reveal ; 
 
 For him each trifle was a pregnant theme. 
 
 No tafk too great, no greatnefs too fupreme. 
 
 Wolcot, Britannia's " Pindar," next we fee, 
 
 From whofe lampoons nor age, nor ftate was free. 420
 
 EfigliJI:) Poetry and Poets. g i 
 
 Mifguided Chatterton, by fkilful lays, 
 On fabled greatnefs fought his fame to raife ; 
 Yet, fcorned by Fortune, and by Senfe expofed. 
 In early death his morn of Genius clofed. 
 
 Funereal Crabbe was ever prone to look 425 
 
 Through darkened glafles on bright Nature's book ; 
 While GifFord, Sotheby, Colman, Bowles defired 
 To tread the path by lyric fame infpired. 
 
 Rogers the joys of Memory defined, 
 In claffic di6lion, with a tafte refined ; 430 
 
 The Mufe of Bloomfield fang of Nature's joy. 
 In fair May's "Milkmaid" and "The Farmer's Boy." 
 
 Southey for claflics wrote ; his ample mind 
 Scorned vulgar fenfe, whofe bounds would have confined 
 His foaring fpirit ; Sappho's grateful ftrains, 435 
 
 With high-toned Virgil, fowed the golden grains 
 Of lyric bloffom in his youthful heart. 
 Bearing rich flowers of fancy, truth, and art. 
 
 Then laureate Wordfworth feized the nation's lyre. 
 And wrote in cyphers of poetic fire, 440 
 
 On lonely Rydal's lake-embowering flope, 
 " Of truth, of grandeur, beauty, love, and hope." 
 The fmalleft leaf that danced upon the wind 
 Could roufe fome dormant feeling In his mind ; 
 What meaner fight would pafs unheeded by, 445 
 
 To him was rich in thought and Poefy.
 
 9 2 Englijli Poetry and Poets. 
 
 In wild conception, and invented theme, 
 The Mufe of Coleridge muft be held fupreme ; 
 His lofty genius, and unftudied eafe 
 
 In fweet expreflion, cannot fail to pleafe : 450 
 
 With whom, as fervants of the heavenly Nine, 
 The names of Lloyd and Lamb united fhine. 
 
 H.ope-\ov\n^ Campbell, ftar of noble name, 
 Whofe epic fpirit was no common flame. 
 Lodged, in the mafs of England's literate ftore, 455 
 
 Some mafter-efforts of poetic lore. 
 
 Green Erin's Bard* in order next we find. 
 Who lyric fweets with learning's power combined ; 
 So ftrong the will, fo earneft the defire. 
 
 To carve his glory in poetic fire, 460 
 
 That ere his body paid the common debt. 
 His fun of reafon prematurely fet. 
 Refpe6led Heber, in Bengala's clime. 
 Shed the fweet bloflbms of his heavenly rhyme. 
 
 " Bard of brief days, but, ah ! of deathlefs fame ! " 465 
 Genius beftows a tear on Kirke White's name ; 
 The hand, with which he fwept the " various lyre," 
 Applied the match to his own funeral pyre. 
 
 " Byron is dead ! " fo fpeaks a thoughtlefs world, 
 Whereas his life-fcroll is but now unfurled ; 470 
 
 * Moore.
 
 Englifi Poetry and Poets. 93 
 
 He who bewailed Achaia's fallen pride, 
 
 Who fang the "Corfair" and " Abydos' Bride," 
 
 Can he be faid to die like other men. 
 
 And leave behind him nothing but a name ? 
 
 N05 Byron lives in every Poet's heart, 475 
 
 A perfedl mafter of the lyric art ; 
 
 Yet, fad to tell, his comprehenfive fkill 
 
 Too often ftooped, to ferve a tainted will. 
 
 Hood's genial rhymes were ever kindly writ ; 
 And flowing o'er with fentiment and wit ; 480 
 
 Jokes without coarfenefs, genius unadorned, 
 Whofe lofs the greateft and the lowlieft mourned. 
 
 Shelley had talents of no common kind, 
 A fancy-laden, fpeculative mind; 
 
 His reftlefs fpirit, fcorning truth and light, 485 
 
 Was quenched at laft in Atheiilic night. 
 
 Keats, like a floweret in the Mufes' grove. 
 Was early favoured with their foflering love. 
 Till cruel criticifm's blafting breath 
 Nipped the fair bud, and worked the Poet's death. 490 
 
 Thefe are a few of Anglia's Bards of Fame, 
 And many more may juilly urge their claim ; 
 The Smiths, Montgomerys, and Hookham Frere, 
 Spencer, Wolfe, Hunt, Barton, Wilfon, Clare, 
 Landor, and ProiSor, Milman, Croly, Dale, 495 
 
 Browning, I'upper, Milnes, and Capern, fwell
 
 94 E?jgliJJj Poetry a7id Poets. 
 
 The endlefs lift of England's Poet-fons, 
 
 And claim a feat with earth's diftinguifhed ones. 
 
 Yet one demands a more efpecial praife, 
 On whofe brow reft the Apollonian bays — 500 
 
 Tennyfon, laureate lyric of our land, 
 The great high-prieft of her poetic band ; 
 His genius, like a nugget clogged v/ith earth. 
 Shews not at once its full and treafured worth ; 
 But flioots from clouds, with myth and myftery fraught, 505 
 Bright lightning flaflies of poetic thought; 
 Too fwift, too lofty for the vulgar mind, 
 Whofe narrow reafon grovels far behind. 
 And, fox-like, fcorning heights it cannot gain, 
 Defpifes learning, paft its power to attain. 510 
 
 'Tis his to feed the fire of England's fame ; 
 'Tis his to write " immortal" on his name ; 
 His are a nation's feelings to improve. 
 And bind the people by a common love. 
 
 Thus have I ventured, clearly, to explain 515 
 
 The whole conftru6lion of the Mufes' fane ; 
 And thus prefumed the merits to declare 
 Of England's Priefts who ferve the Altars there. 
 Methinks I fee, in many a rifing Bard, 
 
 A noble candidate for Fame's award ; 520 
 
 Whofe worth I leave for other tongues to tell. 
 While other hearts with warm eulogiums fvvell.
 
 English Poetry mid Poets. 95 
 
 Poets of England ! do ye fear a ftorm ? 
 Ye have a noble duty to perform ; 
 
 Yours is the helm to guide the public mind ; 525 
 
 Yours are the fails, and yours the favoring wind. 
 Look well around ; and with no carelefs gaze. 
 Pierce State intrigues, and Policy's thick haze j 
 Be not mifled, for friendly banners wave 
 O'er many a pirate barque, and patriot's grave : 530 
 
 Away with fear, for 'tis a thing unknown 
 To hearts whofe ftrength is bafed on Heaven alone. 
 England's the cafket of religious worth, 
 To fpread its bleflings o'er benighted earth ; 
 With fuch a charge her greatnefs cannot fmk, 535 
 
 Nor yet her arm from deeds of juflice fhrink : 
 Sing, then, of Liberty — our glorious right. 
 Scorn the ufurped fupremacy of might ; 
 Dread not the fea, nor fear the blackened heaven. 
 When muftering clouds with thunder-fhocks are riven ; 540 
 'Tis not for England that the death-fhaft flies, 
 'Tis not for England that the tempefts rife ; 
 The hand that rules the elemental ftrife. 
 Will guard her fafety, and preferve her life ; 
 For other lands is reared the threatening rod, 545 
 
 The foes of England, and the foes of God!
 
 ALPHABETICAL LIST 
 
 POETS MENTIONED IN THIS WORK. 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 BORN. 
 
 Addifon 1 672 
 
 Akenfide 1721 
 
 Aldhelm 656 
 
 Armftrong 1 708 
 
 Baldwin 1518 
 
 Bale 1495 
 
 Barnfield 1 570 
 
 Barton — 
 
 Beaumont 1 5B4. 
 
 Blackmore 1650 
 
 Bloomfield 1766 
 
 Bofon 1 180 
 
 Bourne 1695 
 
 Bowles 1762 
 
 Brewer 1580 
 
 Brome 1600 
 
 Broome 1680 
 
 Browne 1 590 
 
 Browning — 
 
 Butler 1 61 2 
 
 DIED. 
 
 1719 
 
 1770 
 
 709 I 
 1792 j 
 
 1563 
 
 1616 
 1729 
 1823 
 
 1747 
 1850 
 
 1652 
 1745 I 
 
 1645 ! 
 1680 
 
 BORN. 
 
 Byrom 1691 
 
 Byron 1788 
 
 Caedmon 620 
 
 Campbell 1777 
 
 Capern — 
 
 Capgrave 1338 
 
 Carew 1589 
 
 Cartwright 1611 
 
 Chapman 1557 
 
 Chatterton 1752 
 
 Chaucer 1328 
 
 Chettle . . , 1 540 
 
 Churche 1180 
 
 Churchill 1731 
 
 Churchyard 1520 
 
 Clare 1793 
 
 Cleveland 1600 
 
 Coleridge 1772 
 
 Collins 1720 
 
 Colman 1762 
 
 DIED. 
 
 1763 
 
 1824 
 
 680 
 
 1844 
 
 1639 
 1643 
 
 1634 
 1770 
 1400 
 1604 
 
 1769 
 1604 
 
 1658 
 1834 
 1756 
 1836 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 BORN. 
 
 Congreve 1672 
 
 Cotton 1630 
 
 Cowley 1618 
 
 Cowper 1731 
 
 Crabbe , . . . . 1754- 
 
 Crafhaw 1 6 1 o 
 
 Croly — 
 
 Cynewulf — 
 
 Dale — 
 
 Daniel 1568 
 
 Davenant 1605 
 
 Davies 1570 
 
 De Brunne 1265 
 
 Dekker 1570 
 
 Denham 1615 
 
 Dennis 1657 
 
 De Rames 1190 
 
 Donne 1572 
 
 Dorfet, Earl of ... . 1637 
 
 Drayton 1563 
 
 Dryden 1632 
 
 D'Urfey 1650 
 
 Dyer 1700 
 
 Edwards 1523 
 
 Etheredge 1636 
 
 Fairfax 1580 
 
 Falconer 1730 
 
 Fenton 1683 
 
 Field 1584 
 
 Fletcher 1579 
 
 Frere — 
 
 Garth 1660 
 
 Gay 1688 
 
 Gidney — 
 
 DIED. 
 
 1728 
 
 1687 
 1667 
 1800 
 1832 
 1650 
 
 1619 
 1668 
 1626 
 
 1668 
 
 1733 
 
 1631 
 
 1706 
 1631 
 1701 
 1723 
 1758 
 1566 
 1694. 
 
 1769 
 
 1730 
 
 1625 
 
 1719 
 
 1723 
 
 BORN. DIED. 
 
 GifFord 1756 1826 
 
 Glover 1712 1785 
 
 Goldfmith 17^8 1774- 
 
 Gower 1326 1408 
 
 Gray 171 6 1771 
 
 Green 157° — 
 
 Greene 1560 1592 
 
 Grimalde 1 520 — 
 
 Gualo 1 180 — 
 
 Habington 1 605 1 645 
 
 Halifax, Earl of ... . 1661 171 5 
 
 Heber 1783 1826 
 
 Herbert 1593 1632 
 
 Herman 1180 — 
 
 Herrick 1591 — 
 
 Heywood, J 1500 1565 
 
 Heywood, T 157° — 
 
 Hill 1685 1749 
 
 Hoccleve 1370 1454 
 
 Hood 1789 1845 
 
 Hughes 1677 1720 
 
 Hunt 1784 — 
 
 Johnfon, K 1570 — 
 
 Johnfon, C 1660 1744 
 
 Johnfon, Dr. S 1709 1784 
 
 Jonfon, Ben i574 1637 
 
 Jofeph Ifcanus .... 11 98 — 
 
 Keats 1795 1821 
 
 Killegrew, W 1605 1693 
 
 Killegrew, T 161 1 1684 
 
 King 1663 1712 
 
 Lamb 1775 1834 
 
 Landor 1775 — 
 
 Langland 1 300 —
 
 99 
 
 BORN. 
 
 Layanion 1 1 9 7 
 
 Lee 1650 
 
 Lillo ; . 1693 
 
 Lloyd 1775 
 
 Lodge 1556 
 
 Lovelace ..^ i6i8 
 
 Lydgate 1375 
 
 Lyttleton ,,. 1709 
 
 Mallet 1700 
 
 Mapes 1 197 
 
 Marlowe 1 564 
 
 Marvell 1620 
 
 Maffinger 1584 
 
 Mayne 1604 
 
 Mennies 1 598 
 
 Middleton 1570 
 
 Milman 1791 
 
 Milnes — 
 
 Milton 1608 
 
 Minot 1330 
 
 Montgomery, J 1771 
 
 Montgomery, R. . . . — 
 
 Moore, E 1712 
 
 Moore, T 1779 
 
 More 1 614 
 
 Munday 1553 
 
 Nafh .... 1564 
 
 Oldham 1653 
 
 Otvvay 1 65 1 
 
 Parnell 1679 
 
 Peek ,. . . 1553 
 
 Philips, A 1 67 1 
 
 Philips, J 1676 
 
 Pitt 1699 
 
 DIED, t BORN, 
 
 — Pope 1688 
 
 1690 Prior 1664 
 
 1739 Pro6lor — 
 
 1829 Quarles 1592 
 
 1625 Randolph 1605 
 
 1658 Relph 1712 
 
 1460 Richard 1 1 1 59 
 
 1773 Rivers, Earl 144* 
 
 1765 Robert of Gloucefter. 1290 
 
 — Rochefter, Earl of .. 1648 
 
 1593 Rogers ^ 1762 
 
 1678 Rofcommon, Earl of 1633 
 
 1640 Rowe 1673 
 
 1672 Rowlands 1570 
 
 1670 Rowley 1580 
 
 1627 Sackville, Earl of 
 
 — Dorfet.., 1536 
 
 — Savage 1698 
 
 Sedley 1639 
 
 Shadwell 1 640 
 
 Shakefpeare 1564 
 
 Sheffield, Duke of 
 
 Buckingham(hire. . 1649 
 
 Shelley 179^ 
 
 Shenftone , 17 14 
 
 Shirley 1596 
 
 Smith, E 1668 
 
 Smith, James ..... . 1775 
 
 Smith, Horace .... — 
 
 Somerville 1692 
 
 Sotheby i757 
 
 Southern 1660 
 
 Southey i774 
 
 Southwell 1560 
 
 1674 
 1854 
 
 1757 
 1852 
 
 1687 
 1633 
 1600 
 1683 
 1685 
 1718 
 1597 
 
 1749 
 1708 
 1748 
 
 DIED. 
 
 1744 
 1721 
 
 1644 
 1634 
 
 1743 
 1199 
 1483 
 
 1680 
 1855 
 1684 
 
 1608 
 
 1743 
 1728 
 1692 
 1616 
 
 1721 
 1822 
 1763 
 1666 
 
 1710 
 1839 
 
 1743 
 1833 
 1746 
 1843 
 
 1595
 
 100 
 
 BORN. 
 
 Spencer 1770 
 
 Spenfer i553 
 
 Sprat 1636 
 
 Suckling 1609 
 
 Surrey, Earl of ... . 151 7 
 
 Swift 1667 
 
 Taylor 1580 
 
 Tennyfon — 
 
 Theobald 1696 
 
 Thompfon — 
 
 Thomfon 1 700 
 
 Tickell 1686 
 
 Tupper — 
 
 Tufler 1 5 1 5 
 
 Vaux , . 1520 
 
 Vere, Earl of Oxford 1534 
 Villiers, Duke of 
 
 Buckingham .... 1627 
 
 Waller 1605 
 
 DIED. 
 
 1834 
 
 1599 
 
 1713 
 
 1641 
 
 1546 
 
 1745 
 
 1664 
 
 1742 
 
 1767 
 
 1748 
 
 1748 
 
 1582 
 
 1604 
 
 1687 
 
 1687 
 
 BORN. 
 
 Waldi 1663 
 
 Warner 1558 
 
 Warton 17^8 
 
 Watts 1674 
 
 Webfter 1585 
 
 Weft 1680 
 
 Whetftone 1550 
 
 White, H. K 1785 
 
 Whitehead 1715 
 
 Wilfon 1788 
 
 Wireker 1190 
 
 Wither 1588 
 
 Wolcot 1738 
 
 Wolfe 1 79 1 
 
 Wordfworth 1770 
 
 Wulfftan — 
 
 Wyatt 1 503 
 
 Yalden 1669 
 
 Young 1 58 1 
 
 )IED. 
 
 1708 
 
 1609 
 
 1790 
 
 1748 
 
 1654 
 
 1756 
 
 1806 
 
 1785 
 
 1667 
 
 1819 
 
 1823 
 
 1850 
 
 1541 
 
 1763 
 
 1765 
 
 J. Unwin, Grefham Steam Prefs, Buckler/bury.
 
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