UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 FUGITIVE 
 
 PIECES. 
 
 Defenfor culpae dicet mihi; fecimus ct no* 
 Hare Juvenes Juv. 
 
 8093 7 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 Printed for C. D I L L Y, in the P o Ut T * Y. 
 
 MDCCLXXZT. 
 
 49826
 
 T O T H E 
 
 RE A D E R. 
 
 TH E following Mifcellaneous Pieces, many of 
 which have been before made public at dif- 
 ferent times, through different channels, and under 
 various lignatures (the Invocation to Health except- 
 ed), were all written at the age of nineteen, without 
 affiftance from friends or from fcholars : the indul- 
 gence, therefore, of the candid is earneftly hoped 
 for, though unfolicited by vague excufe, or feigned 
 diffidence. Few books that are not immoral are 
 totally ufelefs ; for the diveriion of oppofite capacities 
 different materials muft be had recourfe to; the 
 erudition of one man's mind, the perverfenefs of 
 another's, and the ftupidity of a third's, have each 
 their feparate demands. Let him, therefore, who 
 judges with rigour remember, that to publications of 
 this kind, the man of genius is indebted for his foil, 
 the illiterate for his amufement, and even the critic 
 for his bread. 
 
 az THE
 

 
 FUGITIVE 
 PIECES. 
 
 R O S A L I N D'$ 
 DYING COMPLAINT 
 
 TO HER 
 
 SLEEPING CHILD*. 
 
 I. 
 
 ALAS! my deareft baby, 
 I grieve to fee thee fmile ; 
 I think upon thy rueful lot, 
 And cold's my heart the while. 
 
 II. 
 
 'Gainfl wind and tide of worldly woe, 
 
 I cannot make my way; 
 To lull thee in my bofom warm, 
 
 J feel I muft not flay. 
 
 * The above ballad was fuggefted by a real faft, which took place 
 very lately in an obfcure village. A fine country girl was feduced, 
 under a piomife of marriage, by the man (he loved : upon her proving 
 pregnant, he forfook her; in confequence of which, ftie foon after died 
 of a broken heart ; but, what is moft remarkable, Ihc foretold the day 
 of her deceafe fome time before it happened. 
 
 B HI.
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES, 
 
 III. 
 
 My mother will not hear me fpeak, 
 
 My father knits his brow : 
 Sweet Heavens ! were they never young, 
 
 That they can treat me fo ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 Yc fouls unkind, a fate like mine 
 
 never may ye prove ! 
 Nor live to find how bitter 'tis, 
 
 To mifs the man ye love. 
 
 V. 
 
 My friends they all forfake mfr, 
 
 Nor comfort will afford ; 
 They laugh, while I am thinking 
 
 My true-love broke his word. 
 
 VI. 
 
 May God amend their cruel hearts ! 
 
 For furely they 're to blame : 
 They little know what 'tis to feel 
 
 The heavinefs of fhame. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The ungentle hand of rude mifchance 
 
 Has 'reft my heart of reft ; 
 And 'frighted hope with chearlefs eye 
 
 Lies flrangled in my breaft. 
 
 VIII. 
 Twas yrfter eve at midnight hour, 
 
 1 'waked but to weep ; 
 
 I kifsM my baby's pretty hand, 
 And watch'd it while afleep. 
 3
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 IX. 
 Its cruel far-off Father 
 
 My tender thoughts embrac'd, 
 And in my darling's infant look. 
 
 His lovely likenefs trac'<I : 
 
 X. 
 
 With fmilelefs look a fpe&re form 
 
 Advancing feem'd t' appear, 
 And fancy toll'd the Death-bell flow 
 
 Acrofs my ftartled ear, 
 
 XL 
 
 Full well I knew its loathfome found 
 
 That fternly feem'd to fay, 
 " Go fpeed thee to the grafs-green turf," 
 
 *' For thou muft die to-day.'* 
 
 VERSES
 
 4 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 VERSES 
 
 Written amidft the Ruins of BROOK HOLM Priory 
 in NORFOLK. 
 
 BROOMHOLM, thy vaulted roofs and towers fublimc 
 Yield to the gradual touch of filent Time, 
 Whofe fable Hole, in thickefl mantlings fpread, 
 Veils the fair profpeft of thy once-fam'd head; 
 His robe, full quaint with mofs, at random thrown, 
 Proudly o'erfpreads this manfion for his own. 
 As from the view at late decline of day . 
 Th' expanded landfcape flowly fades away ; 
 Thy beauty thus but dimly now appears, 
 Thro' the dark backward of five hundred years. 
 O'er the cold limbs that daily mouldering lie 
 Beneath the Winter's wind and Summer's iky, 
 By the wan moon-beam oft the Bird of Night 
 Lengthens her feral note, and wings her flight, 
 The foul bat, rous'd at eve's ill-omen'd hour 
 P'iits from the lonely nook and rugged tower. 
 What tho' in vain with curious eye we trace 
 The tarnilh'd pourtrait of the facred place; 
 With eye profane its fading tints explore, 
 That mark the features of the days of yore, 
 And fain would eager fnatch from ruffian Timt 
 The hoary fragment of a monkifh rhyme : 
 What tho' no more at early dawn of day, 
 Eve's lonely hour, or twilight's trembling ray, 
 -* With- ken full blithe the mariner efpies 
 Thy glittering domes and ma fly towers arife, 
 
 * With ka full Withe.- -This Priory \vas formerly a f'ta mark. 
 
 Far
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 5 
 
 Far from the dizzy mall he looks in vain, 
 
 And longs to view his native more again. 
 
 What 'tho' no fcanty path we here defcry, 
 
 To chear with foot of man the Jick'ning eye, 
 
 Rough from the grafp of age, thy walls deride 
 
 The {lighter fymmetry of modern pride, 
 
 Fancy, Hill fond, prefents the long-drawn aile, 
 
 And feels the brooding Genius of the pile ; 
 
 Her magic fpell th' emblazon'd arms fupplies, 
 
 And gives the Gothic pane a thoufand dyes, 
 
 Rebuilds the tottering tomb of many a knight 
 
 With burniih'd helm and ponderous ipear bedight : 
 
 Still the damp fhrines a grateful awe infpire, 
 
 Pale burn the lamps, and rapt th' attentive choir, 
 
 Still the loud organ's peal I feem to hear 
 
 That wakes the flumb'ring foul, and fills the ravim'd car. 
 
 P&OS-
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 PROSTITUTED HONOUR 
 
 O R 
 
 LOTHARIO, a CHARACTER. 
 
 TTNMARK'D by cenfure, vmreftrain'd by fear, 
 ^-^ Shall low-born Vice its fhamelefs forehead rear, 
 From honour's height look down, with faucy brow, 
 On all the grov'ling world that toils below ? 
 At Poverty's lone cot dare wag its tongue, 
 And fcorn the dirty dunghill whence it fprung ? 
 Thanks to the Gods, who gave me to deride 
 Wealth's fwelling port, and tinfel'd meannefs' pride, 
 Silent I cannot view with patient eye 
 Pageants like thefe that ftink and nutter by. 
 In days of yore, with Virtue for her guide, 
 Juftice alone preferr'd the worth fhe tried, 
 On time's broad records firmly fix'd its name, 
 And merit only found the road to fame: 
 Our gallant knights, in good Eliza's reign, 
 Bade France be dumb, and conquer'd haughty Spain, 
 Then the brifk fummons of the vig'rous chace 
 Strung the firm nerve, and rlufh'd the ruddy face, 
 Fafhion. in vain her Proteus form difplay'd, 
 No fecret offerings at her mrine were paid, 
 She dar'd not then affrighted fenfe lay wafte, 
 Or taint the facred fource of public tafte ; 
 Alike Refinement tried her foft'ning fway 
 To catch the fturdy manners of the day, 
 Her efforts vain ! Britannia's favour'd ifle 
 Renounc'd the lurking evil of her fmile, 
 Yc ions of fame, whofe memories impart 
 A conftant tranfport to the feeling heart ;
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 Ye Sidneys, Raleighs, for old England's good, 
 Who paid the willing tribute of your blood, 
 Your well-fpent lives with joy the Mufe furveys, 
 That claim the meed of never-fading praife. 
 On each fam'd deed me cafts an hopelefs eye, 
 And views the pleafing pi&ure with a figh ; 
 Britannia's fons, by fuch to victory led, 
 
 So oft have conquer'd, and fo oft have bled, 
 
 By fuch fo oft her navy's fails unfurl'd, 
 
 She bad her thunder make the fubjeft world. 
 
 Sorrowing the Mufe beholds the throne difgrac'd 
 
 Its luftre tarniih'd, and its gifts mifplac'd, 
 
 No more with dazzling light the regal ray 
 
 Shines unobfcur'd and chears the coming day, 
 
 Daub'd with falfe honours whilil Lothario's mien 
 
 Provokes the threat'ning eye of honeft fpleen ; 
 
 Swell'd with bafe pride, exempt from ev'ry grace, 
 
 Vice in his heart, and folly in his face, 
 
 Studious to keep the naked poor in awe, 
 
 And grind their needy fouls with harpy law, 
 
 Methinks I fee him labouring to be great, 
 
 Rais'd on the tott'ring ililts of awkward ftate, 
 
 Firft of the tribe who mi ft with ready art 
 
 The dudlile feelings of a venal heart ; 
 
 Sir Knight become, how big dear felf appears, 
 
 And whilfl the title greets his drinking ears, 
 
 He ihakes his booby head, and wonders what he hears. 
 
 Ere lull'd to {lumber in the nurfe's arms 
 
 The fqualling infant thus a coral charms ; 
 
 Pleas'd, it attends the difcord for a wliile 
 
 .And hugs the glittering bauble with a fmile. 
 
 A DIRC* 
 
 j
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 A DIRGE to the Memory of CHATTERTON. 
 
 HEN Spring, with fcanty veil and maiden fmile, 
 Leads on the youthful months and coming year, 
 
 Her tears of morning dew 
 
 Shall wet thy death-bed cold. 
 
 When jocund Summer, with her honied breath 
 Sweet'ning the golden grain and blithfome gale, 
 
 Difplays her fun-burnt face 
 
 Beneath the hat of ilraw ; 
 
 When fober Autumn with lack-luflre eye 
 Shakes with a bitter blaft the yellow leaf, 
 
 And hears the wood-man's fong, 
 
 And early fportfman's foot ; 
 
 The Lily's hanging head, the Panfy pale, 
 j^Poor Fancy's only followers) in meek 
 
 Attire, mall deck thy turf, 
 
 And withering lie with thee. 
 
 When naked Winter like a pilgrim grty 
 Of verieft rude afpeft and joylefs brow 
 
 Calls for the carol wild, 
 
 And trims the focial fire ; 
 
 Remembrance oft in pity's willing ear, 
 Shall toll at filent eve thy penfive knell, 
 And tell to after-days 
 
 Thy talc, thy luckkfs tale, 
 
 NEAR
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 9 
 
 VERSES 
 
 6CCASIONED BY 
 
 The Removal of fome Seats from the Cathedral 
 Clofe, NORWICH, by Order of the DEAJT. 
 
 , Eques metuendus hajta 
 
 Vitam fub dio, et trepidis agat 
 
 fa rdus Hoa. 
 
 L 
 
 NEAR yonder walk, fome friendly hand, 
 'Gainil Winter's Waft, and Summer's heat; 
 With kindeft fkill and art had plann'd, 
 For Love a fafe and foft retreat. ' 
 
 IL 
 
 The powder' d 'prentice, damfel coy, 
 
 At rife and at decline of day, 
 Here fnatch'd, conceal'd, their flolen joy, 
 
 And gave the tender paflions play* 
 
 IIL 
 But not alone for young Defire 
 
 To breathe entranc'd the balmy figli, 
 To fill the melting foul with fire, 
 
 And bid the light- wing'd moments fiyj 
 
 IV. 
 
 Tiie trembling tongue of tatter'd fage, 
 H^re oft would teil his merry tale. 
 Oft here forgot the woes of age, 
 
 bleft at noon the buxom galtf* 
 
 C V.
 
 io FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 V. 
 
 But adverfe Fate, with mercilefs hand, 
 
 Has laid the blifsful manfion low, 
 And, yielding to the Dean's command, 
 
 Has aim'4 her dreaded doomfiil blow. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The well-fed Prebend, Canon fleck, 
 
 As void of confcience, as of fear, 
 No more with fat bedimpled cheek 
 
 Shall k>ofe the ready button here. 
 
 VII. 
 The love-lorn Maid no more at eve 
 
 . With expectation fhall rejoice, 
 And bid her anxious heart believe 
 She hears a Lover's whifpering voice. 
 
 VIIL 
 Remembrance oft with alter'd eye, 
 
 In fad regret, as wand'ring near, 
 At rapures paft fluli heave a figh, 
 
 And -drop the pittance of a tear. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Shall Cynthia's beams their luftre flied 
 O'er Yare's * cold wave and moiTy fhore, 
 
 Or mark the neighbouring cloifter'd dead, 
 Or tinge the brow of Moufehojd hoar f, 
 
 * The river Yare runs from Norwich to Yarmouth, 
 f Moufehoid is a considerable hill near the citv. 
 
 X.
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES, a 
 
 X. 
 
 &ut ne'er again with friendly ray 
 
 The aufpicious ftar of Venus prove, 
 To light her votaries on their way, 
 
 And gild the Verdant bed of love? 
 
 XI. 
 Forbid it, Venus may thy care 
 
 Still conftant guard the myftic fpot, 
 And keep a Handing vigil there, 
 
 The charms of Cyprus quite forgot ! 
 
 XII. 
 O let not thus thy honours die, 
 
 Nor blunted fall your Cupid's dart; 
 O raife a fragrant myrtle nigh, 
 
 To chear an humble fuppliant's heart* 
 
 XIII. 
 No ftoic foul, no heedlefs eye, 
 
 With fcorn fhall view its proffer'd made, 
 Or pafs with flep difdainful by, 
 
 Where Beauty's tempting form is laid. 
 
 XIV. 
 May Hope, deferr'd from day to day, 
 
 Await th* unfeeling wight that dares, . 
 May Love, that's fick'ned by delay, 
 
 Appal him with its eating cares : 
 
 XV. 
 
 May flow gradations of defpair 
 
 Retard with pain his ftruggling breath; 
 
 Jtfor Pity lend a willing ear, 
 
 To fpeed the wiih'd-for hand of Death. 
 
 Ca VERSES
 
 n FUGITIVE PIECE 9. 
 
 VERSES 
 
 Written under a ftatute of Painting, in the poffeffion 
 of ROBERT HANLEY, Efq. 
 
 BLEST art, whofe magic to the Parent's eye 
 The fading fcenes of memory can fupply, 
 The Lover oft, by thy bold hand pourtray'd, 
 * Views the foft femblance of his abfent maid ; 
 
 Oft checks the tender throb, the ftruggling iigh, 
 And wipes the tear from fad Affe&ion's eye ; 
 Thro' thee her glance and dimpled cheek beguile, 
 Return his longing look, and feem to fmile; 
 Thro' thee he lulls his wayward thoughts to -reft, 
 And calms the riling tumult of his breaft. 
 
 o sr T H 
 
 B I R T H - D A Y 
 
 OF 
 
 L U C I N D A, 
 
 "Who was foon about to be married. 
 
 I. 
 
 "T 7" E Spirits unfeen, that oft range round the grove, 
 
 JL Ye Mufes that erft tun'd Anacreon's lyre, 
 And prompted, uncall'd, the fweet language of Love, 
 And fill d his gay verfe with the force of your power. 
 
 II.
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES, 13 ' 
 
 II. 
 Tho' forever ye fly me, attend this blefl morn, 
 
 And breathe but a wifh for the health of my Maid, 
 O fmile on the day that Luanda was born, 
 
 And do iipt, O do not deny me your aid. 
 
 III. 
 Sad affli&ion and forrow I give to the gale, 
 
 They but fully the joys that enliven the foul; 
 Bring the light voice of mufick, of mirth bring the tale, 
 
 And 'wake the brilk Demon that lurks in the bowl. 
 
 IV. 
 
 May Time in his annual courfe as he flies, 
 And ripens the beauties that bud in your face, 
 
 Touch the bloom of your cheek., and the glance of your eye?, 
 But to foften with fmiles, or to deck them with gracs, 
 
 V. 
 
 See, my Fair, afrefh wreath from young Hymen's hand l 
 As lafting as verdant, ye powers, may it prove, 
 
 Of mutual afFedtion and virtue the band, 
 Nor Care ever wither the rlowrets of Love. 
 
 VI. 
 May remembrance hereafter, with Gratitude's eye, 
 
 View a long lift of years that for ever are pail; 
 Nor your heart prompt a murmur, your breaft heave a 
 
 At the mandate of Fate when it ufhen the lafl.
 
 H FUGITIVE PIECES, 
 
 To M Y R A-* ? 
 An EPISTLE, 
 
 After receiving a Drawing of hers of a VIOLET 
 and a BEGGAR. 
 
 FR O M thefe fad fcenes, where care and pale difmay 
 Darken with deepeft cloud the chearful.day, 
 Where 4ujty pours in vain its lengthen'd figh, 
 And wipes {he ftagnant tear from Sorrow's eye, 
 O'er all its hopes views tyrant Fate prevail, 
 And mourns the focial comforts as they fail; 
 Say, can a novice Mufe, tho' you inlpire, 
 In artlefs thanks attune her fadden'd lyre ? 
 Apollo's dupe, no jargon tram of mine, 
 Lives in the verfe, or fparkles in the line ; 
 For me, whofe eye furveys with no delight, 
 Pierja's dream or fam'd Parnafius' height, 
 
 Let M n all in tears his ftory tell 
 
 Of vvidowM dove or forrovving Philomel ; 
 
 With all the tinfel'd harlotry of art, 
 
 Win the weak mind, and touch the taftelefs heart; 
 
 For me, let P r's hireling pages chime, 
 
 With all the cant of nonfenfe and of rhyme j 
 UnawM by povy'r or Fame's attractive ray, 
 I value jnore v.violet than a bay. 
 Yet Myra fmiles; ye coming Mufes, hear, 
 And waft this votive trine to her ear ; 
 From dull oblivion guard itsfimple lays, 
 And teach the caurlifh critic how to praife. 
 
 * This alhulcs to fome fctncs of domcfiic afflidion, in which the 
 au'kots'^as ^iicn engaged. 
 
 7 Fc
 
 pmiicuu j 
 
 part to kill, \ 
 
 landing {till, > 
 
 fiend Quadriil. j 
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 15 
 
 For her, what Gothic foul could e'er repine, 
 
 To' invoke thofe worft of all coquets, the Nine. 
 
 In Shandy mood, with head on hand reclin'd, 
 
 To ev'ry ill of fate and phlegm r efign'd, 
 
 With furly filence, or with feign'd content, 1 
 
 I hear (on diftant fcenes ray thoughts intent), 
 
 The tedious round of chat and compliment. 
 
 Perchance, bleak Winter's hour in part to kill, 
 
 And keep the drowfy mind from ilai 
 
 Come* a dread fummons from the fiend 
 
 If right my ftartled ear arreeds the chime, 
 
 It fecms the pafling kneli of murder'd Time * ; 
 
 With fad civility the tricks I tell, 
 
 And gaze without emotion at a Belle ; 
 
 Whjjil at my carelefs play and vacant air, 
 
 Gamblers look grave, and Tabbys vviih to fwcar. 
 
 Till parent Dullnefs claims her feat again, 
 
 Settles their features, and aflfumes her reign. 
 
 At thofe lov'd Ihores where Yare, with ceafelefs 
 
 Joins the dark bofom of the fearful deep, 
 
 Full many a truant wifh, and wayward look, 
 
 Has Abfence caft, and muling Fancy took ; 
 
 Where Friend Ihip vacant finds an elbow chair, 
 
 .Looks round With joy, and longs to linger there j 
 
 Where frank Good-humour every care beguiks, 
 
 With all the buxom family of fmiles. 
 
 Charm <1 with the thought, I picture Juliet near*, 
 
 Her fprightiy glance I feel, her voice I hear ; 
 
 Attentive fit, and meet with tacit %h 
 
 The fofter caft of penfive Myra's eye ; 
 
 Dwell long enamour'd on each blooming grace, 
 
 That lends its latent influence to the face. 
 
 * A parody upon fome lines in Young's Night Thought*. 
 f Juliet the fifter of the Lady to whom :helc verfcs -,v
 
 i6 FUGITIVE PIECES, 
 
 With flutt'ring breaft, I view her nicefl ikill, 
 
 Teach the keen darts of Venus how to kill ; 
 
 And touch with bufy hand each lighter drefs, 
 
 That guards the dimpled cheek and filken trefs ; 
 
 The filmy gauze, the ribband's dazzling dye, 
 
 (A myftic fpell to catch the ruftic eye ;} 
 
 The waving fafh, the feather's nodding plume* 
 
 With all the powers of cambric and perfume ; 
 
 Thro' fuch, let meaner beauties of the day, 
 
 Spread wide o'er vanquifh'd hearts the female fway j 
 
 At ev'ry look and random glance lay low 
 
 A dangling coxcomb, or a flimly beau. 
 
 To fouls like mine, no influence they impart^ 
 
 Who bribe rhe eye to captivate the heart. 
 
 Slaves to the laws of Tafte, let fome admire 
 
 Paulo's bold ftroke, or vivid Titian's tire j 
 
 With critic eye and juft precifion trace, 
 
 Pouffin's learn'd air, or foft Corregio's grace; 
 
 Rapt in amaze, let others trembling (land, 
 
 And feel the dark fublime of Rofa's hand ; 
 
 Be mine the talk, their varied ftyles to view, 
 
 And mark their blended beauties met in You; 
 
 When the lone wretch, by age and ficknefs ledj 
 
 'Bides the chill ftorm, and begs for bitter bread ; 
 
 Taught by thy hand, my willing heart mall flow, 
 
 And drop a lilcnt tear for hclplefs woe, 
 
 With readier aid, ihall chafe thofe griefs away, 
 
 That cloud the funlefs ev'ning of his day, 
 
 At Pity's call, fhall give his wsnd'rings reft, 
 
 And glad with chearful hope his tortured breaft. 
 
 Oft flmli affe&ion., fondly fix'd on you 
 
 (The lovely fource from whence its mercy grew), 
 
 Viewing thy Beggar form, with pleafure boaft, 
 
 That fhe who excites it befr, mutt feel tt moft. 
 
 The
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 17 
 
 THE 
 
 LAMENTATION 
 
 O F 
 
 LLWARCH-HEN THE BARD, 
 
 Upon the Death of GWLAITH, a WELCH Chief. 
 Suppofed to be tranflated from the Welck. 
 
 Give me fome mufic ; 
 
 Now good Cefario, but that piece of fong, 
 That old and antique long we heard laft night j 
 Methought it did relieve my paifion much, 
 Moit than light airs and recolleftcd terms 
 Of thefc moft brifk and giddy-patcd times. 
 
 SHAK.SP. TWELFTH NIGHT. 
 
 " Son of Beli Mawr, alas ! the beams of thy glory are 
 fet ; thy wide extended hall mall no longer give iheiter to 
 heroes that quaff the fparkling meed who gladdened at thy 
 prefence. A filence that is only introduced by death, 
 there fpreads her contagion. To us the days of forrow are 
 at hand ; thy cup-b-arer treads no longer with alacrity ; 
 the trembling firings of the harp forget to vibrate : no 
 longer the note of victory at the waving of the hand of thy 
 Bard, awakens the foul from her manfion with enchant- 
 ment. The foot of Time, which we hear not, has trod- 
 den upon thy fhield, red and moift with blood; already 
 has his hand defiled with ruft thy corflet, over thy war- 
 worn helm the Spider begins to fcatter the thin web of 
 Oblivion. Let this be thy folace ; the journeying flranger 
 D ihaJl
 
 18 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 fhall not pafs by the fpot of thy reft without recollefting 
 (as the hollow blaft moves the herb that trembles at its 
 comfortlefs breath) the force of thy arm, and the heart- 
 making thunder of thy footfteps. The tale that Fame has 
 told of thee, fhall lead him far from his path, and delay 
 him at thy grave. The blue-ey'd damfel of his bed, at 
 each returning day, fhall view the fun with averfion, and 
 caft a look over the hills for his return. The Eagle of 
 battle (to which thou wert like), mangling her prey on thy 
 grave, fhall oft mark with her princely foot where thou 
 licit, thou that wert her feeder, and fhall flap her firm-fet 
 wings as me hears the neighbouring torrent rufhing near thy 
 corfe. Oft at eve does thy Father fay, " My Son, my 
 Son ;" and bids thy younger Brother hearken as he tells 
 of thee; thy brother's blood, like that of the lion's whelp, 
 kindles for the conteft, and longs to fucceed thee. As 
 wandering to pay thee my tribute of grief, I diftinguifh 
 the flow and tremulous accents of thy Sire (for he yet 
 lives), the fall of Orwan by the prowefs of thy fpear, the 
 enfanguin'd waters ofTarwath (from memory), oft feem 
 to fparkle in his deep-funk eye ; my heart is weigh'd down 
 at the painful pleafure of his figh, and the deepen'd luxury 
 of his mourning. Thy white fleed that of old fnufF'd 
 the breeze in the vale, I meet lonely ftraying near thy 
 grave, cropping the long tall grafs that quivers over thee. 
 Where is now the noife of his hoofs, his flowing mane, 
 the joy of the field, and the lightning of his eye at the 
 downfall of enemies? Many are they whom Fate has 
 overtaken, whom memory fhall never recall, whom no 
 future Bard fhall awaken from filence, when the Hirlas 
 horn fhall open the hearts of poflerity, and of the yet un- 
 born ; the evening and the morning fun fhall gild their 
 
 graves
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 19 
 
 graves with its rays, and the Winter's wind fhall rudely 
 falute their wailing limbs as it paffes in its courfe to fhake 
 the turrets of Aberffraw, and agitate the fullen waters of 
 
 but thy name fhall not be forgotten. Thee 
 
 Danger oft has met in the tented field, and fled difmayed ; 
 Snowdon and our mother Mona have refounded the clafh 
 of thy deeds ; the cottager on their heavy-hanging brows 
 at midnight has ilarted at the found by the finking blue- 
 taper, whilft his trembling confort lull'd her affrighted 
 babes to their broken (lumber. Still vifible are the prints 
 of thy fleeds upon Deudraeth ; the hours of life are paft, 
 and Death only has been thy conqueror." 
 
 Da LLWEN
 
 20 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 LLWEN AND G Y N E T H. 
 
 O fellow, come, the long we had laft night, 
 
 Mark it Cefario, it is old and plain, 
 
 The fpinflers and the knitters in the fun, 
 
 And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, 
 
 Do ufe to chant it.-r TWELFTH NIGHT. 
 
 t( /~\ My troubled foul, I fee nought fave the hollow-* 
 \^S beating wave, the cold luminary of the night 
 fhows me the gloomy turrets of Llathryth thro' the 
 broken wall it may touch the cheek of my Love, as he 
 thinks and dreams of me ! Moon, how I envy thy 
 beams ! Gyneth, them Youth of the fpear, breaker of 
 the crimfon fhield, Llwen has left her couch of leaves, 
 and wanders to find thee ; the blafl blows cold from the 
 mountain, the Hunter's dog is at reft thou art not gone to 
 thy grave ! for who can look in thy face with the thoughts 
 of death in his heart? Yet flwce is the black-brow'd 
 Branworth, fate is in the glare of his eye ; but I am a 
 woman, and thou art my Love. Branworth, fweeping 
 ftorm of the fouth, Llwen entreats for the joy of her heart ; 
 the (how-bearded Bard of her father fhall refound thy 
 name in his hall with {lately fleps ; the horn in the palace 
 of thine enemy lhall be filled to the brim, and Llwen fhall 
 
 not forget thy mercy What do I fee? Gyneth 
 
 lives in my fight, come down from thy prifon of Death, 
 hafte from thy grated window, the Sun will foon arife, the 
 quick-fcented Foe will be near ; but, alas, thou art not the 
 fame, I am chill'd as I look at thy face. Speak ; where is thy 
 
 blooming
 
 FUGITIVE" PIECES. 21 
 
 blooming cheek and thy raven-black eye ? My heart keeps 
 not its feat as I gaze. 
 
 GYNETH. 
 
 " Thou doft not fee me alive ; away, I am as cold as 
 the dead man's hand, the eagle has eat my bones. I am 
 but thy Gyneth's ghoft, -let Rodric and Owain, my bro- 
 thers, revenge me ; let to-morrow's fun gleam on their 
 fhields ; away and collect my remaining bones, where the 
 faint traveller flops at the flream of Teiri, let a few .{tones 
 upon the green turf mark where I lie.; we foon mail 
 meet, graceful daughter of Yrganvy. Till the Hunter has 
 feen my grave, and the Shepherd's boy has brufhed the 
 thillle from my refling-place, wretched am I and forlorn, 
 frightful is my dwelling, it cannot be named. 
 
 LLWEK. 
 
 Lion of the field, art thou fall'n ? Rodric and Owain 
 are not ; old is my Father, he hcareth not the gladning 
 found of the harp or the fpear ; Llwen, his daughter, and 
 Gyneth he cannot remember ; he is even at the door of 
 Death, Many have perifh'd before me, and have not re- 
 turned ; furely they are happy, why then mould I weep? Sor- 
 row beats hard at my heart. lobeythee, my Love, and haftc 
 to coilet thy bones; I will not look back upon Arfoel*; 
 the turf of thy tomb I will build up where the Summer- 
 laiting flower lifts its head ; oft fhall I view it in the morn 
 when the Sun looks bright in the Eatt, and in the even, 
 when it lofes its glory in the Weftern main ; when I am 
 gone, it will flourifh. Paflenger, with rude hand pluck it 
 
 * Arfoel was probably the name of her Father's palace, to which 
 cnevcr meant to return. 
 
 not
 
 *2 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 not up ; but a little while it tarrieth, the day of its wither- 
 ing cometh on, it will join the dufl of the daughter of 
 Yrganvy, 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The raofe of literary impofition introduced by the pub- 
 lication <; f Oflian and Rowley, was the inducement which 
 led the author to attempt the preceding fpecimens of Welih 
 poetry ; deceptions of this kind, even in the opinion of the 
 mod uncandid, if they fall under any imputation, it muft 
 be that of being "deiifta potius quam peccata ;" as through 
 their means no character can eafily be injured, no fa- 
 vourite opinion can be indirectly inculcated, and from 
 their concifenefs, little of the critic's time can be expended 
 in iavilh'd diligence or fruitlefs inquiry. The author, there- 
 fore, with the fpirit of a man who meant no harm, does 
 not fcruple to confefs his former intention of deceiving. 
 The lamentation of Llwarch-hen firft appeared in the 
 Town and Country Magazine for March, 1783, in a let- 
 ter figned OXONIENSIS. The author, flattered by hearing 
 its originality talked of in the fame Magazine for June, 
 published what he calls a tranflation from Taliefin, to 
 which he fubfcribed the name of John Williams, and in 
 the preliminary fictitious account, that likewife of Arthur 
 Price, Efq. together with a correction of Mr. Evans re- 
 lative to a date. This laft circumftance, with the forgery 
 of both the abovementioned names, was merely ufed to 
 caft an air of veracity upon the ftory and compofition ; 
 not to omit a letter likewife to Oxonienfis, figned In- 
 quifitor. ,Some fhort time after the publication of Llwen 
 and Gyneth, the author was not a little furprifed at its 
 7 laugh-
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 23 
 
 laughable efFe&s, for upon perufing Mr. Evans's Ballads, 
 vol. Ill, page 143, he found the ftory, with foine flight 
 alterations, elegantly turned into verfe by Mrs. Robinfon. 
 To this ingenious lady many thanks from the author art 
 due, as he confiders himfelf indebted to her truly fpirited 
 paraphrafe for the few readers who may be induced to 
 throw away their five minutes upon his production. The 
 only circumftance he has to regret, is, that the valuabk 
 pen of this lady fliould have been employed upon a fub- 
 jet far beneath her attention, and that me was deceived 
 in concluding that to be original, which is here publickiy 
 confefied to be fpurious.
 
 *4 FUGITIVE PIECES, 
 
 SECTION I. 
 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS 
 
 O N 
 
 VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 
 
 Levia quidem hx'c, et parvi forte, fi per fe fpeftentur, moment! ; 
 fed ex elementis conftant, et principiis oriuntur omnia : et ex judicii 
 confuetudine in rebus minutis adhibita pendet llepilfime etiam in 
 taaximis vera atque accurata fcientia. 
 
 Dr. CLARKE'S Preface to the ILIAD. 
 
 A MIDST the various fubjedts of utility which incur 
 .XJL. the cenfure of the pert, the ignorant, and the pe- 
 tulant, I recollect no one more univerfally condemned 
 than verlal critlclfm ; by them it is considered as the loweil 
 fpecies of pedantry that learning affects ; to dedicate a page to 
 the meaning of a fingle word, and quote authority after au- 
 thority in its defence, is a fubject which the man of wit re- 
 joices to harrafs with invective, and hold out to derifion by 
 his ridicule : for the attainment of this end, even Pope was 
 induced to throw the feeble dart of his malevolence at 
 Bentley, from the adamant of whofe victorious buckler it 
 recoiled without effect ; for the fame purpofe, and againft 
 the fame man, Mallet contributed the affiftance of his 
 weak arm, like a dwarf aiding a giant in affaulting Ju- 
 piter. That the fpirit of verbal criiici/m and emenda- 
 tion, even when connected with genius, have been fome- 
 times productive of abfurdity ; the abovemcntioned fcho- 
 lar in his edition of Milton, and Warburton in his 
 Shakefpear, but too plainly prove. Thefe, in fome mea- 
 fure, are unfortunate inftances. That Ikill which in 
 
 fo
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 25 
 
 fo fingular a manner diftinguiflies them when examining 
 the learned languages feems to forfake them when 
 penning their ovtn. Thofe who have feldom fenfe to 
 feel argument, but who have generally impudence to 
 encourage laughter, would do well to confider, that the 
 txertions of a vigorous mind are feldom totally obfcured : 
 amidft the frivolous minutenefs of trifles, the rage cf re- 
 fearch, and the dam of emendation, there will ever adhere; 
 to them certain charadteriftics that are peculiar to genius, 
 and that in fuch a cafe, where much is vaguely faid, ibme- 
 thing rriuit ultimately be effected. Let the fcofFers at this 
 fpecies of fcience for a moment diveft Spenfer of the notes 
 of Upton, Warton, and Jortin ; remove thofe united mo- 
 numents of labour and ingenuity from Shakfpcare, in the 
 edition of Johhfon and Steevens, and perufe the text Only ; 
 if they then fully imderftand them ; if the fenfe or beauty 
 of no one paflage is loft by the omiffion of them ; ths 
 trappings of criticifm, no doubt, are unnecefiary, and di- 
 Jigence has plodded but in vain. This, however, would 
 be the daring aflertion of felf-fufficiency, to which every 
 day's experience gives the lye. A candid reader cannot 
 but acknowledge the obligations he lies under to thofe 
 eminent niea, whofe refearches tend to exalt the fancy of 
 a Spenfer, the univerfal powers of Shakfpcare, and the 
 fplendid and weighty magnificence of Milton. On the 
 other hand, I am as far from wilh'mg to encumber the 
 text of an author with the ufelefs appendages of notes, 
 where it is p!:-in and determinate, as from omitting them 
 where dark and oblcure. In the following fcattered re" 
 marks, therefore, which have little affinity to each other, 
 .if I may have contributed in any degree towards fettine a 
 paifage in a new light, in el updating what before feemed 
 ambi-
 
 a6 F U G I T i V E PIECES. 
 
 ambiguous, or in having drawn the line of difcriminafioii 
 between imitation and originality, I mall content myfelf 
 with that lhare of praife which refults from bearing part 
 of a character, thought by fomc to conftitute the hewer 
 of wood and the drawer of water in the ranks of Literature. 
 As the mode 1 have adopted is very irregular, and the 
 obfervations mifcellaneous, I mall venture to commu- 
 nicate them in the form they firft prefented themfelves, 
 without digefling them into order, method, or connec- 
 tion. 
 
 N O T E, 
 
 Cicero, in his work de Claris Oratoribus, has tlitfc 
 words concerning Hortenfius : " Et erat oratio cum in- 
 " cirata et vibrans turn etiam accurata et polita." Of this 
 paflage, I once heard it obferved, by a man whofe powers 
 of intellect can only be equalled by the goodnefs of his 
 heart, that he knew no word in the Englim language 
 which fully exprefTed the meaning ot vibrans, except fiafh\ f 
 which would not do from its being always ufed in a bad 
 icnfe , it means fplendid and dazzling, like a light from :> 
 fword. alternately brandifhed this way and that way ; yet 
 "[ think (though at the time the pavTage did not occur to 
 me), Dr. Johnfon has, in his life of Congreve, fallen upon 
 a happy illuftration of it,' and probably without intending 
 the kaft allufion. Speaking of Congrevc's Dialogue, his 
 words are thefe : " His perfonages are a kind of intellec- 
 tual gladiators ; every fentence is to ward or (hike ; the 
 conteft of fmartnefs is never intermitted ; his wit is a me- 
 i;or playing toandfn with alternate corfu/cations." Vol. III. 
 
 6 3- 
 
 Tht
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 27 
 
 The Hendecafyllables of Dr. Markham upon the death 
 of the Piince of Wales, are, perhaps, the happieft and 
 moft perfect production, in the ftyle of Catullus we have ; 
 yet let me not feem to delight in cavil, when I wifh to 
 rectify an improper piece of tautology in the following 
 lines. 
 
 " Tu dormis, volitantque qui folebanf 
 RUus in rofcis tuis labellis, 
 Bum fomno facilij aces folutus." 
 
 Where can be the occafion for this laft line ? it is very 
 beautiful, but unneceflary, as me had mentioned the " Tu 
 dormis" before in the preceding lines. Every lover of 
 poetry who perufes thefe verfes fhould compare them with 
 the ere A a 'jy*> of Simonides, and Lady Anne Bothweil's La- 
 ment, vol. II. p. 196. of Percy's Reliques, as the fame 
 ftroke of the pathetic, and the fame genuine fpirit of tafte, 
 pervades them all. Markham's elegant compoiition feems 
 to have fuggeiled thpfe claffical verfes (quoted by Dr. War- 
 ton, in his id volume on Pope) upon the death of JVf a rcus ; 
 and it perhaps may give the reader fome fatisfaftion, when I 
 inform him they are the production of his ingenious brother, 
 Mr. T.W T arton, fellow of Trinity College, Oxon. It is with 
 the higheft opinion of their taile in Polite Literature, that L 
 mention them both ; and therefore fhall take this oppor- 
 tunity of pointing out fome images which the former, in 
 his " Ode to Fancy," feems to have, in fome degree, bor- 
 rowed. He addreffes her thus : 
 
 " O ! Nymph, with loofely-fiowing hair, 
 With buikin'd leg and bofom bare, 
 Thy \vaift with myrtle girdle bound, 
 Thy brows with Indian feathers crown'd^' 
 
 E * See
 
 i8 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 S.ee Spenfer, Canto 12, B. 3, where Britomarte redeems 
 Amoret, and fees Fancy in the inchanted chamber : 
 
 " His garment neither was of fiike nor fay, 
 
 But paynted plumes in goodly order dight., 
 
 Like as the fun-burnt Indians do affray 
 
 Their tawny bodies in their proudeft plight, &c. &c." 
 
 In another part of the Ode, where the Beggar is de~ 
 fcribed as taking flicker under the mouldering towers of 
 an abbey, I am inclined to fufpeft, that the idea was firil 
 fuggefted to Dr. Warton by the defcription of Jealoufy in 
 Spenfer, F. Queen, Canto n. B. 3 ; and which he him- 
 feif quotes, vol. II. p. 98. " Eilay on Pope," \ojbcw the 
 richnefs of Spencer* f Fancy. 
 
 Into that cave he creepes, and thenceforth there 
 Refolv'd to build his baleful manfion 
 In dreary darknefs, and continual fears 
 Of that rock's fall; luhich, ever and anon, 
 Threats with hu^e ruin him to fall upon. 
 That be dare never Jlee/>, but that one eye 
 Still ops he Iteepsfor that occafan, 
 Ne-ver re/is be in tranquillity. 
 
 Dr. Warcon's lines are the following ; and, were I called, 
 nron to feleft the mod beautiful circumftance from all the 
 poets, both ancient and modern, within my knowledge, \ 
 fhoukl, without hesitation, ftx upon this : 
 
 Or to feme Abbey's mculd'ring towers, 
 Where; to avoid cold Winter';, fliowers, 
 The nnket! beggar fhivering lies, 
 While whittling tcmncfts round him rife, 
 AuJ trcmttcs lej} the tittering wall 
 Sbould on ber f.etpinv infants jail. 
 
 In vain the gloiTy ocfagJttiFeto tempt 
 Tht joli\ Sailor. WAETOS'S EnthuCaft cf Nature. 
 
 The
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 29 
 
 The reflections that muft have arifcn in confequence of 
 (ucli an object as a tranquil fea, in the midft of men in 
 their rude and barbarous ftate, before art had intro- 
 duced navigation, form a fubjec~r, fo curious and ftriking, 
 that, upon the idea's being fuggefted, we dwell upon it 
 with pleafure, and quit it with regret. We find the 
 fhought of the Sea's fmiling both in ^Efchylus and Lu- 
 ^retius : 
 
 Aviie.-V.'v yiXoe-jua. Prom. Vinft. go. 
 
 See Lucretius'^ fine addrefs to Venus, where the cir- 
 cumftance of the waves fmiling is charmingly imagined, 
 and with the greateft propriety, when we confider the 
 mythological tale which fuppofes Venus to be fprung 
 from the fea. 
 
 < tibi rident eequora ponti 
 
 Phcatumcjue nitet difFufo lumine cselum. Lib. i. jine5. 
 
 And fcarce are feen the proftrate ^Jile or Rhine : 
 
 A Imall Euphrates thro' the piece is roll'd, 
 
 And little eoglei wave their wings in gold. POPE. 
 
 " The circumftance in the laft line is puerile and little." 
 WARTON on POPE, vol. II. p. 268. 
 
 Surely this obfervation can hardly be juft : the circum- 
 |lance, inftead of being puerile and little, feems rather rich 
 and poetical ; it likewifc fomewhatcontradicls his commen- 
 dation of a pafiage, quoted vol. I. p. 25. of a limilar nature, 
 and which is there faid to be finely imagined: 
 
 Tbe figured Jlreatns in waves offilver roll'd, 
 And on their banks Aitgufla rofe in gold.
 
 SQ FUGITIVE PIE C"ES. 
 
 If in this latter paflage the ftreams for rolling in waves of 
 filver, and Augufta's rifing in gold, are worthy of praife ; 
 the little eagles in the former paflage, for waving their 
 wings in gold, can fcarce incur cenfure ; but, if that were 
 the cafe, the following fine paflage in the 8th book of 
 Virgil, line 671 (which Mr. Warton mould have quoted ), 
 would be liable to the fame objection : 
 
 *' Hsec inter tumidi late marls ibat imago, 
 Aurea, fed fluftu fpumabans ccerula cano : 
 Jit circum argento clari dclphincs iu orben}, 
 ./Kquora verrebant caudis a-ltumque fecabant, 
 In tnedio clafles aeratas Aftiajbclla 
 Cernere erat : totumque inflrutto martc vidercs 
 Fervcre Leucaten, auroque ejfulgere Jiutlus." 
 
 Sir Thomas Brown, in his Enquiries into Vulgar 'Errors, 
 chap. 16, b. 7, atter confuting the opinion of Tamerlane's 
 having been a fhepherd, has thefe words : " And therefore- 
 this miftake concerning the noble Tamerlane was like 
 -that concerning Demoithenes, who is faid to be the fon 
 of a Blackfmith, according to common conceit, and that 
 handfome exprcflion of Juvenal : 
 
 Qucm pnter ardentis maflue fuligine lippus, 
 A carbone ct forcipibus, gladiolque parantc 
 Incudc, et luteo vulcano ad rhetora mifit. 
 
 But Plutarch, who wrote his life, hath cleared this con- 
 ceit, plainly affirming he was mofl nobly defcended, and 
 that this report was raifed becaufe his father had many 
 tfaves that wrought fmith's work, and brought the pro- 
 fit unto him." Still the imputation remains in great mea- 
 furc the fame, and Sir 1'. Brown's defence will avail but 
 little in removing it, unlefs we examine the teftirnpny of 
 Plutarch with more minutenels. Now there appears 
 
 among
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 31 
 
 among the ancients to have exifted a wide and eflential 
 difference between the fabricator of arms, military inflni- 
 ments, &c. and the Blackfmith who formed the neceflary 
 and various implements for common ufe. Had he been 
 one of this lower rank, Plutarch would have mentioned 
 him by fome other term, inftead of which he calls him 
 xT ffoxr,* " Ma^a^owrow?," Gladiomm fabricator, exactly cor- 
 refponding with Juvenal's expreffion : 
 
 gladiofque parante 
 In cudc. 
 
 Virgil feems, by way of eminence, to have infcrted the 
 name of the artificer of the belt belonging to the unfor- 
 tunate Pallas : 
 
 Q^ise bonus Ewjtio* multo cielaverat auro. L. x. 499. 
 And of the fword whichlulus gave to Euryalus. L. ix. 333. 
 
 humero fimul exuit enfem, 
 Auratum, miia. quern fecerat arte Lycaon, 
 
 atque habilem vagina aptarat eburna. 
 
 It is but fair, therefore, to argue from thefe paiTages, 
 that, had the making mention of fuch a fubject as this 
 contained in it any thing low or ignominious, Virgil's 
 judgement would have rejected it ; the retaining of it, on, 
 the other hand, plainly proves the character by no means 
 deft it lit c of dignity. The curious, perhaps, may not think 
 it ufelefs to obferve, that the ingenious Mr. T. Warton 
 in his DiiTertations prefixed to the " Hiftory of Engliih 
 Poetry," has the following remark : " The names of 
 Sword-fmiths were thought worthy to be recorded in hif- 
 tory." Hoveden fays, that when GeofFry -of Plantagenet 
 was knighted, they brought him a fword from the royal 
 treafure, where it had lain up from old Time, being the 
 workmanmip of Calun, tbt moft excellent of S'MGrd-fmitbs. 
 
 > - all
 
 32 UGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 all things fmiled, 
 
 With fragrantfe and with joy my heart o'eiflow'd. 
 
 PAR. LOST. 
 
 Thefe lines ftand thus pointed in Milton's own and 
 tnofl other editions ; others have it, 
 
 All things fmilerl 
 
 With fragrance, and v>ith joy my heart o'crflow'd. 
 
 Which feems the beft and true reading, notwithstanding 
 Richardfon's note, which is plaufible and ingenious ; but 
 by removing the ftop from after fmiled^ and placing it 
 .after fragrance^ the paffage becomes right, and will be 
 found to be an imitation of an expreflion in Catullus dfr 
 Nup. Pel. et Thet. 284. 
 
 Nam quotcunquc fernnt cam'pi, quo's Theffala magni, 
 Mormbus ora creat, quos pfopter fluminis undas, 
 Aura parit flores tcpidi fcecunda pavoni ^tof 
 Hos iiidiilinftis pltxo'j tuli^ iplc corollis, 
 tHieis permulfa domus/'rr^?;r/i; ri/it adore. 
 
 Perhaps thi:: paflHge may, in foine dcgfee, a'ccount f;?r 
 Grav's CAprcflion of " Cfti'fs redolent o/ Joy," which-- 
 Johnfon objef^: to. 
 
 In Pophani'a colltclion of poems is ths following epi. 
 gram : 
 
 QnaiuHIum fliHant huitiiks graBlltfqu? pdeta? j 
 Hie fcribit fama duftus, at illc fame. 
 
 The pun is a good one, but borowed from Thuanus ! 
 
 " In Gcrmania et eodcm anno obiit Gual. Xylander 
 Auguilanus, utriufque linguuv appiini-: pcntus, tt omnis 
 ftntiquitati.- ac lite rat urae cum panels hujus ffivi corapa- 
 randus ; ad h*c philofophicis et mathtrnaticis ftudiis 
 
 clarus :
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 33 
 
 tlarus < dum vixitcum fumma cgeftate ludtatus atque dbid 
 fami noil fa ma; fcribere exiftimatus." See Thuanus, 
 vol. III. 461. 
 
 Lord Chefterrteld, in fome eafy Verfes addrelTed to a 
 lady, has this falfe, though pretty thought : 
 
 " The dews of the Evening induftrioufly (him, 
 They're the tears of tbejky for the lofs of the Sun." 
 
 This blunder feems to have originated from two caufes ; 
 in the iirit place from his lordfliip's ignorance of the na- 
 ture of dews, which are exhalations from the earth, and 
 afcend ; and in the fecond, from his having, probably by 
 accident, feen an ode of Renat Rapin, who calls the grafs- 
 hopper 
 
 " C<*li caduch ebria./?/V/6wj4 
 
 The claflical and learned part of lord Qieilerfield's cha- 
 Tafter, when brought to the ted, {lands but upon a limi- 
 lar foundation with his morality ; and the cenfure he has 
 ventured to brand the Greek epigrams With will ever ium- 
 mon up the indignation of every fcholar ; he certainly 
 either was unable to conftrue them, or, if he could, had 
 not fufficient tafte to enjoy them. He was a man of the 
 world, elegant, fuperfkial, and debauched ; his learning 
 had little folidity, and his morals lels principle. 
 
 The following letter, which is extracted from a fcarce 
 volume of Peter du Moulin's poems, has efcaped the notice 
 of the feveral Biographers of Milton ; and as it clears up, and 
 throws fome light upon the contefl between him and 
 Peter du Moulin, the author hopes it will not prove un- 
 acceptable : It is fubjoinedto fome verfes which iie intitles 
 *' In impurifiimum Nebulonem Johannem Miltonum, 
 F par-
 
 I' U G I T I V E PIECE S. 
 
 parricularuni, et Parricidii advocatum. In quofl peu- 
 culum me conject'rit prima hujus carminis cum clamor c 
 regi'i ftiHgitinis editio, publica notitid dignum hand exilli- 
 nvrem, nifi divini pro-'iidii miraculum quo Ici'vatus fum 
 incofumis, commnni bonorum admiratione et fummi li- 
 beratoris laude dig \\\ ill mum elTet. Schedas meas ad mag- 
 num Sa!ma/tum miieram qui eas erudttifmni viri Alexundri 
 Jlfo>i curas commendavit ; Morus 1'ypographo tradidit, 
 eii'que Epiilolam ad Regem Tub Typographi nomine 
 pr.riixit, oppido eloquentimmam et bon;e frugis plenif- 
 limam,, iilud Mori circa operas Typographicas fludium, 
 cum Miltono per Reicidarum in HoiuaMa coryceos inno- 
 tviillet, pro comperto habuit Miitonits Clumorii authorem 
 elle Alorum : unde ille Afiitea't ( fub titulo Defiu/ionis jt- 
 cund* pro populc dngl'icanQ} viruk'ntiilimus in Afsrum \\- 
 bellus, cui iniupcr inimicos in HJLiKdia creavit ; erant 
 cnim tune tcmporis Ajiglicani Tyranni extra fua ponnvria 
 maxime tbrmiGHti : fpeftabam mterea tacitus, nee fin 
 lento rifu, foetv.m meum ad alienas fores cxpofitu'm ; et 
 caecum atque furioium Mtltonum Andabatarum more pug- 
 .natuni et ai^^o^irttj a quo feriretur et quem contra fc- 
 rirct ignarum. At Morus, tante invidias impar, in Regia 
 cauia frigere coepit, et Clamorn axithonim A'fi/tcno indicavit. 
 Enimvero iii fua ad Ml'toni ma!edic"ta refponfione, duo* 
 adhibuit tefte.s, pnccipue apud pcrduellcs fidci, qui au- 
 ihorcm probe noiTcnt et rogati poffcnt revelare, unde fanl- 
 milii et capiti meo certiirnnum impendebat exitium. At 
 magnus ille Juftitia? vindex, cui et hanc-operam et hoc 
 caput libens devoveram, per Mlitoni fupcrbiam falutem 
 meam afleruit ; ut ejus fapicnti^e iblemne eft ex mails 
 bona, ex tenebris lucem elicere. Jl'fiitonus enim qui ple- 
 lils caninjc cloquentix veils in Myr4tm inveftus fuerat, qui- 
 7 quo
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 35 
 
 <que id ferme unicum D'j- *nd<e fu^e feccrat argu- 
 
 mentum, ut Mori vitam atquc famam laceraret : adclnci 
 n-unquam potuit ut fc tarn cruise hallueinatum cilc fateretur, 
 icilicet metuens ne cosci'cati ejus populus illuJeret, cum- 
 que compararcnt Grammaticorura pueri Carulo illi ci-co 
 apud r jui!enal-m qui pifcem Domltiuno dcmatuin laudaturus, 
 
 Plurimn elixir 
 
 In Ircvum convcifus ; at ilia dcxcra jun.bat 
 Bcllua . 
 
 *' Perfeverante igitur Afittono- totnm illud pericnlofi in 
 Regcm amoris crimen Aforo impingere, non poterant c- 
 teri pcrduellcs fine magna boni patroni fui infuria aliutn 
 a Moro tanti criminis reum peragere. Cumque A'liitonus 
 me falvum eile mallet quam fe ridiculum,' hoc oper=e mcie 
 premium tuli, ut Miltonum quern inclementius acceperam 
 liabcram patronum, etcapitis mei iedulum i-rpy^rir/;', parcc 
 rifu, Leftor ; et Deo Liberator! Optimo, Maximo, et "api 
 entiflimo, fumraas mecum gratias age." To the cu- 
 rious in Latin poetry I would moil: earneilly WCOrainen'd 
 the deierted productions of this m?.n, who, though fre - 
 qaently unfortunate in the choice of his fubjefts, has 
 many detached pieces of great elegance. His veries to his 
 Cat, from their late publication, I .(houldhope, are better 
 known, and may. be confida-ed as no contemptible fpe- 
 cimen of his claflical abilities. Moulin was a Proteftant 
 miniiler who taught philotophv in Holland, and chaplain 
 to Harry the Fourth's fifter, princefs of N'avarre. He died 
 at Sedan, 1658, in the 90:!! year of his age. 
 
 His faltcm accumulcm doni^, ct fungar inani 
 Muncrc. \'IK(;IL. 
 
 F 2 SEC-
 
 36 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Johnfon tells us, in his Life of Prior, vol. III. p. 37, 
 he has been informed that his fmaller pieces, which con- 
 fift of light images, or fingle conceits, were not always his 
 own ; and that he has traced him among the French Epi- 
 grammatifts. One would be inclined to conclude, that 
 the following line from the Diverforum riV, had given 
 rife to his 
 
 " Fire, water, uomcn arc our ruiij, 
 Says wife Profefibi" Vandcr Bruin. 
 
 Gcb.aTsa.) 59 t?yj, x, ynv, xaxa i:jt>, 55? Poet. Min. 
 
 Amidfl the various inftances of faftidious criticifm in 
 Johnfon's Life of Grey, the following cannot but ftrike 
 every reader but as falfe. " Idalia's velvet green has fome- 
 thing of cant an epithet or metaphor drawn from nature 
 enobles art ; an epithet or metaphor drawn from art de-r 
 grades nature." To the rail part of this rule which the 
 Doctor lays down, I readily aflent ; but does not the Doc- 
 tor contradict hirnfelf, as well as reafon, when we find in 
 his Midfummer Wifh, vol, III. Pearch's Collection, 
 
 Lay me where o'er the verdant ground 
 Her living carpet Nature fpreads. 
 
 Inflances of its ufage fcarce need be adduced. 
 
 Others like Soldiers armed in their flings 
 Make boot upon the Summer's 'vehet buds, 
 
 Shakfpeare, fpeaking of the Bees,, fcene II, Hen. V, 
 
 Through the velvet leaves, the \\L,d 
 
 AN unicen 'gan patfage find. PalJionatc Pilgrim. 
 
 For
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 37 
 
 For further remarks on this fubjeft, fee Potter's Enquiry, 
 page 25. 
 
 In that beautiful performance, the Caftle of Indolence, 
 is the following expreffive line : 
 
 " Or prowl in courts of Law for human prej." 
 
 It feems to have fuggefted to the Do&or, 
 
 Their ambufh here relentlefs ruffians lay, 
 And here the fell Attorney prowls for prey. 
 
 .1 And with attentive watch, 
 
 Steal from Abdalla's eye tlu-y/Vw to fmile. Scene IV. Irene. 
 
 Mahomet fays, in the laft fcene of the fame play : 
 
 Yet ere I quit the fcepter of dominion 
 
 Let one juft act conclude the hateful day ; 
 
 Hew down the guards, thofe vaflals of deftru&ion, 
 
 Thofe hounds of blood, that catch the bint to kill. 
 
 This idea, which Johnfon feems to have felt in its fuH 
 force, is finely expanded and exemplified in Shakfpeare, 
 in the fcene between king John and Hubert, where the 
 king fuppofes Hubert to have murdered Arthur in com- 
 pliance with his faint orders, and repents of it. 
 King John- 
 It is the curfe of kings to be attended 
 By flavcs that take their humours for a warrant, 
 To break into the bloody houfe of life, 
 And on the 'winking of authority, 
 To understand a law; to know the meaning 
 Of dangerous majefty, when, perchance, it frowns 
 More upon humour than advis'd rcfpcft. 
 
 And dill further on he fays : 
 
 But thou didft underftand me by myjigns. So, IV. K. John. 
 
 I thought, 
 
 4-9 S2 6
 
 38 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 I thought, forgive my fair, the noble/I aim, 
 
 The ftrongcft effort of a female foul, 
 Was but to chufe the graces of the day ; 
 
 To tune the tongue, to teach the eye to roll, 
 Difpofe the colours of the flowing robes 
 
 And add new rofcs to the faded cheek. Scene VIT. Irene. 
 
 See Milton, book 1J. Paradife Loft. 
 
 Bred only and compleatcd to the fade 
 Of luftful appetite, to fing, to dance, 
 To drefi and troule tie tongue and roll the eje. 
 
 Johnfon, we frequently find, imitates himfclf. 
 
 ' Leontius muft defccnd 
 
 Through hilling ages a proverbial coward, 
 
 The tale of women, and the fcorn of fools. Sc.-III. Irene. 
 
 Speaking of Charles the Twelfth, 
 
 He left tbe name at which the world grew pale, 
 To point a. moral, or adorn a tale. 
 
 Vanity of Human Wilhes. 
 
 Year chafes year, decay purfucs decay, 
 Still drops fame joy from nvitb'ring life away. 
 
 Vanity of Human Wiftos. 
 
 This fine couplet contains the fame idea we find fo beau- 
 tifully exprcfled in his late Elegy upon Mr. Level's death : 
 
 Condcmn'd to Hope's dclufivc mine, 
 As on we toil from day to day, 
 "By fudden blafts oijloiv decline, 
 Our foetal comforts drop away. 
 
 Perhaps both paffages might have been fuggefled by the 
 following lines in Young's Love of Fame, Sat. 5. 
 
 : 
 
 Not
 
 PUGITIVEPIECES. 39 
 
 Not numerous aic ourjojs, when life is new, 
 Andjearlj tome arc falliag of the few ; 
 But when we conquer life's meridian ftage, 
 And downward ted into the vale of age, 
 They drop apace ; by nature tome decay, 
 And fbme the blajis of Fortune iwecp away. 
 
 Pope has well exprefled the fame idea : 
 
 Years following years fteal fomething ev'ry day ; 
 At iaft they fteal us from ourfelves away ; 
 In one our frolicks, one amufements end, 
 In one a miflrefs drops, in one a. friend. 
 
 POPE'S Im.it. Epilt. II. B. II. of HORACF. 
 
 In another ftan/a of the Doftor's Elegy upon" Levet> - 
 we meet with the fame tuxu as in a paflage of Gray : 
 
 Yet dill he fills Affcftion's eye, 
 
 Obfcurely wife, and coarfely kind ; 
 Ntr, letter' d Arrogance, deny 
 
 raife to merit unrfjin'd. 
 
 Let not ambition mock their ufeful toil, 
 
 Their homely joys, and doftiny ofcfcurc ; 
 Nor Croud fur bear *witb a Jifdainful finite, 
 
 The Jbort andjlmple annals of the poor. 
 
 Elegy in a Country Church Yard. 
 
 In another ilanza he feems not to have- forgotten 
 Dryden : 
 
 His virtues walk'd their narrow round, 
 
 Nor made a paufe, aor left a void j 
 And fure th' Eternal ^lafer found, 
 veil employ '^. 
 
 Of
 
 4o FUGITIVE PIECE! 
 
 Of her five talents other five (he made ; 
 
 Heaven, that had largely given, was largely paid. 
 
 DRYDEN'S Panegyric on the Countefs of AbingcJon . 
 
 Thefe obfervations may appear trifling ; but to trace the 
 meanders of a great mind is feldom either ufelefs or un- 
 pleafant ; and as fuch, therefore, 1 fliall not conclude my 
 obfervations on Johnfon. 
 
 Robb'd of the maid with nvbom liuifi'd to triumph, 
 
 No more I burn for fame, or for dominion ; 
 
 Sutfefs and conquejl noiv are empty found* . Irene, laft Sc. 
 
 See the conclufion of his noble Preface to his Dic- 
 tionary. " I have protracted my work till moil of thole 
 whom I wijhed to pica I c have funk into the grave, and fuccejfs 
 and mifcarriage are empty founds : I therefore difmifs it with 
 frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from cen- 
 fure or from praife." 
 
 See his fine Apoftrophe to the (hade of Edward : 
 
 Jlluftrious Edward ! from the realms of day, 
 
 The land of Heroes and of Saints fur-ivy ; &c. &-c. 
 
 Demetrius exclaims in the fame iiyle : 
 
 From thofe bright regions of eternal day, 
 
 Where now thou fhin'll among thy fellow-faints, 
 
 Array'd in purer light, look down on me, &c. &c. 
 
 Irene,- Aft. I. Sc. I. 
 
 Having juft mentioned Mr. Gray, I fhall take occafion 
 to obferve a paflagc of his in an Ode, the fublimity of 
 which equals, if not furpafles, any thing we have, where 
 the metaphor appears to me broken and inconfiftent : 
 
 Long on thefe rnould'ring bones have beat 
 
 inter's fnow, the Summer's heat. Dcfccnt of Odi. 
 
 With
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 41 
 
 With propriety bones may be faid to have been long beat 
 with the Winter's fnow ; yet we can hardly, with juftice, 
 attribute the aftion of beating to a ray of the fun. Pope 
 has fallen into the fame error. 
 
 Opprefs'd we feel the beam direftly beat. i Epift. I. 
 
 It occurs likewife in Spenfer's Fairy Queen, Canto V. 
 B- III. where Belphcebe relieves Timeas, who falls in 
 love with her : 
 
 Little (he ween'd that love he clofe concealed ; 
 
 Yet ftill he wafted, as the fnow congealed ; 
 When the bright fun his beams thereon doth btat, 
 Yet never he his heart to her revealed, 
 But rather chofe to die for forrow great, 
 Than with dimonourable terms her to intreat. 
 
 The author need not remind his reader how the above 
 fine defcription is exceeded by Sjiakfpearc's picture of con- 
 cealed Love. 
 
 Mr. Gray, in his Bard, has imitated the following fine 
 lines of Dryden in his defcription of the Temple of 
 Mars. 
 
 The landfcapewas a forefl. wide and bare, 
 Where neither beaft nor human kind repair ; 
 The fowl that fcent afar, the borders fly, 
 Andjbun the bitter blaft, and wheel about the fly. 
 
 On dreary Arvon's more they lie, 
 
 Smear'd with gore, and ghaftly pale ! 
 
 far, far aloof, tb' affrighted ravens fail, 
 
 The famijb'd eagle fcrtams and pafa by. GRAY. 
 
 6 .. .. where
 
 42 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 where ignorance is blifs, 
 
 'Tis folly to be wife. GRAY'S View of Eton College; 
 See Grotius's Erudita ignorantia ; 
 
 Nefcire quxdam, magna pars fapientiae eft. 
 Grotius's verfes, which are extremely good, will be 
 found to be fbggefted by Lucretius : 
 
 Multa tegit facro in vol'ucra Natura ; neque ullr* 
 Fas eft fcire quid'em mortalibus omnia. Multa 
 Admirare modo nee non. venerare. 
 
 The concluding part of the abovementioned Ode of 
 Gray feems to have been fuggefted by the fifth fecYion of 
 Oldham's Counterpart to his Satyre againft Vi.tue : 
 
 The infel youth are on the wing 
 
 Eager to tafte the honied fpring. Ode to Spring. 
 
 Surely the infeft youth is quaint and affefted ? We find! 
 this attribute given by Shakfpeare in one of his forme ts to 
 the Summer : 
 
 O how fhall Summer's denied breath hold out ? 
 
 Johnfon's Shakfpeare, vol. II. p. 633. 
 
 Manuel, in the Revenge, fpeaking of Leonora, fays, 
 
 her aged father 
 CARLOS. Leads her this way 
 
 She looks like radiant Truth, 
 
 Brought forth by the hand of hoai y Time. Att I. Sc. I. 
 
 It is not improbable that Young had a defign of Ruben* 
 in his eye, which Dr. Percy, in his Reliques of Ancient 
 Poetry, vol. II. page 139, mentions : "In the title-page 
 of this laft, i. e. The Pofies of George Gafcoigne, efq. (by 
 way of Printer's or Bookfeller's device) is an ornanamental 
 wooden cut, tolerably well executed, wherein Time is 
 
 reprefcnted
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 43 
 
 reprefented drawing the figure of Truth out of a pit or 
 cavern, with this legend, * occulta veritas, tempore patet. 
 * [R. S.J* This is mentioned becaufe it is not improbable 
 the accidental fight of this or fome other title-page, con- 
 taining the fame device, fuggefted to Rubens that well- 
 known defign of a fimilar kind, which he has introduced 
 into the Luxemburg gallery, and which has been fo juftiy 
 cenfured for the unnatural manner of its execution." 
 
 Man wants but little, nor that little long. 
 
 Young's Night Thoughts, Night IV. 
 " Then, pilgrim, turn ; thy cares forego, 
 All earth-born cares are wrong j 
 Man v ants but little here below, 
 Nor wants that little long. Goldfmith's Hermit. 
 
 aperta cnim res eft, quotidie nos ipfa natura admonet, 
 Quam faxcis fxam partis rebus fge*t, quant vllibut. 
 
 Cicero's Tufc. Quaeft. 
 
 " Some paflages in our old dramas incline one to think, 
 that when tragedies were performed, the ftage was hung 
 with black." This conjecture is fupported by many in- 
 fiances from our old plays. See vol. II. page 21, Sup- 
 plement to Johnfon and Steevens's Shakfpeare. 
 
 I Hull beg leave to add the two following inftances : 
 
 Would'ft thou bcruuld a tragicke fceane of furrow, 
 Whofe wofull plot the author did borrow 
 From fad invention ? thefab/ejlage, 
 Ikf lliifly acian with their tqxipage, &c. Sec. 
 
 Job Militant by Quarks. Proportion of the vorke 
 
 " Let her be made thefa&Ie ftage whercou 
 Shall firft be afted bloody Tragedies. 
 
 Nemcfis, fpeaking of England, Civil Wars, by Daniel, Book VI. 
 G 2 The
 
 44 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 The pages of Mr. H. Walpole are perufed in general 
 with fo much eagernefs, and quitted with fo much regret, 
 that I am well aware it will be deemed almoft literary trea- 
 fon to controvert his opinion. We are indebted to him, 
 no doubt, for much novelty of remark, and much fubtelty 
 of enquiry, upon fubje&s, in the determining of which, 
 the operations even of genius can make but a flow pro- 
 grefs, and where conjefture muft fo often fupply the 
 place of information. Yet, through all his works, it 
 needs little fagacity to perceive a pervading rage of inno- 
 vation, with a coxcomical fondnefs for fetting the world 
 right. I am far from meaning to infmuate, that errors 
 from their length of ftanding can poflibly ceafe to be er- 
 rors. He that fairly undeceives the world, is highly in- 
 titled to its thanks and its commendation. An air of 
 plaufible novelty allures moft readers ; thofe, therefore, 
 who judge not for themfelves, are ever ready to take upon 
 truft the new-vampt opinions of any ingenious adventurer, 
 who with the genuine fpirit of Quixotifm, failles forth 
 upon difcoveries that no one but himfelf can make, and 
 raifes difficulties merely for the fake of difpelling them. 
 When the juft fame, therefore, of a man whom the poet, 
 the fcholar, and the ftatefman of paft ages, looked up to 
 as the darling of the day, is not only petulantly doubted, 
 but arrogantly denied ; admiration looks with an unwill- 
 ing eye upon the hand that deftroys the character me has 
 been fo long accuftomed to revere. Since general ac- 
 cufation amounts to but little, I fliall refer my readers 
 particularly to his life of Sir John Vanburgh, in his Anec- 
 dotes of Painting, with that of Lord Falkland and Sir 
 Fulke Grevile, Lord Brooke, in his Royal and Noble Au- 
 7 thors
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 45 
 
 thors ; which laft, as it contains remarks upon the cha- 
 radlcr of Sir Philip Sydney, I mall more immediately con- 
 fine myfelf to. Vo4. I. p. 182. 
 
 " No man feems to me fo aftonifhing an objecl: of 
 temporary admiration as the celebrated friend of the Lord 
 Brooke, the famous Sir Philip Sydney. The Learned of 
 Europe dedicated their works to him; the Republic. of 
 Poland thought him at leaft worthy to be in the nomination 
 for their Crown. All the Mufes of England wept his death. 
 When we at this diftance of time enquire what prodigious 
 merits excited fuch admiration, what do we find ? Great 
 valour; but it was an age of heroes. In full of all other 
 talents, we have a tedious, lamentable, pedantic, paftoral 
 romance, which the patience of a young virgin in love 
 cannot now wade through ; and fome abfurd attempts to 
 fetter Englim verfe in Roman chains ; a proof that this 
 applauded author underftood little of the genius of his 
 own language : the few of his letters extant are poor 
 matters ; one to a toward of his father, an inftance of un- 
 warrantable violence, by far the beft prefumption of his 
 abilities (to us, who can judge only by what we fee), is 
 a pamphlet published amongft the Sydney papers, being 
 an anfwer to the famous libel called Le'.ctfter's Common 
 Wealth; it defends his uncle with great fpirit. What had 
 been faid in derogation to their blood, feems to have 
 touched Sir Philip moft. He died with the rafhnefs of a 
 volunteer, after having lived to write with the fang f raid 
 and prolixity of Mademoifelle Scuderi. Let not the ex- 
 amination of a favourite character be taken in an ill light. 
 There can be no motive but iuft criticifm for calling in 
 qucflion the fame of another man, at this diftance of time. 
 
 Were
 
 46 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 Were pofterity to allow all the patents beftowed by cotem- 
 poraries (owtemporaries), the temple of Fame would be 
 crouded by worthlcfs dignitaries." 
 
 Such is the mifreprefentation of Walpole ; founded, I 
 fear, upon motives far different from juft criticifm. It were 
 abfurd to fuppofe, that in an age of valour, and of learn- 
 ing, fo many fingular circumftances, without confiderable 
 merits in the perfon, mould accidentally concur in ef- 
 tabliihing the reputation of an individual. Without a fuf- 
 iicient teftimony of his deferts, is it probable* that the Po- 
 landers fhould think him an object worthy of their Ciown ? 
 or that Elizabeth mould interfere fo far as to prevent his 
 advancement to it, by refufing her acquiefcence ? By this 
 author, we find no attention paid to his courage, and no 
 deference to his abilities. The former, it- feems, he 
 ihared but equally with his contemporaries, and the latter 
 he never poffefled. As to his " attempts to fetter Englifh 
 verle in Roman chains," though I by no means am de- 
 iirous of defending the practice; let it be remembered in 
 his juftifkation, that he can hardly be faid to have done 
 that ill which no one yet has done better. If his produc- 
 tions were not valued, wherefore do we find his Arcadia 
 translated into French, Dutch, and other languages ? To 
 what caufe are we to affign his being knighted with Peri- 
 grinc Bertie, in 1552 ? an honour which in that reign 
 was never proftituted, and feldom obtained, even by me- 
 rit, without much difficulty. Surely the fad tale of hi s 
 death, which at leaft rivals, if not furpafies, the moft 
 i'plendid mftance of ancient hardyhood, but little deferves 
 the harm, appellation he has fo wantonly afligned it. 
 In fhort, amidft the feveral worthies that England has 
 produced, I know of few who are more entitled to a place 
 
 in
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 47 
 
 in the temple of Fame than the gallant Sir Philip Sidney. 
 The Arcadia, notwithftanding the pedantry of its lan- 
 guage, and intricacy of its defign, abounds with many de- 
 tached defcriptions truly fublime and pathetic : and if we 
 m:tke proper allowances for the time in which it was writ- 
 ten, it will be found to be a work of much acquired 
 knowledge, and great original brilliancy. It fhould be re- 
 membered likewife, that, as in the Fairy Queen of Spenfer, 
 many allufions are made to the prevailing characters of the 
 day, though now fcarce perceptible. As the book is not 
 much read, I mail lelecl a few fpecimens, out of many, 
 for the perufal of the reader. 
 
 As no one can doubt the tafte of the writer of the Caftlf 
 f Qtranto, I am fometimes inclined to believe he never 
 read the work he abufes ; upon no other principle am I 
 able to account for his defcription of it. In the lift of 
 pictured beauties, whofe knights were conquered by Pha- 
 lantus, the following fine image cannot but ftrike the reader, 
 and poffibly may, in fome meafure, remind him of 
 
 Sterne's Maria. " But the next piclure. It was of A 
 
 young maid, ivhich fate pulling out a thorn cut of a lamb*s 
 foot, with her look fo attentive upon it, as if that little 
 foot could have been the circle of her thoughts ; her ap- 
 parel fo poir, as it had nothing but the injide to adorn it; 
 bui with all that poverty^ beauty played the prince, and 
 commanded as many hearts as the greateft queen there did" 
 Vol. I. p. 108. 
 
 The peniive figure of Philoclea in her chamber is well 
 defcribed, fee vol. II. page 417. The amaze of Mufi- 
 dorus upon finding Pyrocles in the arbour, is finely ima- 
 gined," Book I. p. 80. * 4 But by that time Mufidorus 
 had gathered his fpirits together, and ytt cofting a ghajlful 
 
 (tun-
 
 48 FUGITIVE PIECES, 
 
 countenance upon him, as if he could conjure fame JtraMgcfpi- 
 rits, he thus fpake unto him." 
 
 With that he buftled uphimfelf, as though his heart would 
 fain have walked abroad. Book I. p. 104. 
 
 Cecropia, the ambitious mother of Amphialus, in her 
 account of her exertions for his fake ; after mentioning 
 her fame and exaltation, fpeaking of the change in her 
 condition, from good fortune to adverfity, adds this ex- 
 preffive circumftance : " For now from the multitude of 
 followers, filence grew to be at my gate, and dbfenct in 
 my prefencc." Book III. p. 414. 
 
 See the account of Kalander's Garden, B. I. p. 15. " And 
 in one of the thickets was a fine fountain made thus : a 
 naked Venus of white marble, wherein the graver had 
 uied fuch cunning, that the natural blue veins'of the mar- 
 ble were framed in fit places, to fet forth the beautiful 
 veins of her body. At her breafl Jhe had her babe Mneas, 
 who feemed, having begun to fuck , to leave that to look upon her 
 fair eyes, which fmiled at the babe's folly, mean while the 
 breaft running. 
 
 See the account of Cecropia's being abamed at the prayer 
 and appearance of Pamela, B. III. p. 436, 7. 
 
 The cowardice of Clineas is defcribed with fuch mi- 
 nutenefs and attention to the workings of nature, as is 
 ieldom found. P. 437. The death of Ifmenus is well worth 
 notice. B. III. p. 444. It thus concludes : " Philanx 
 himfelf could have wifhed the blow ungiven, when he faw 
 h,im fall like a fair apple, which fame uncourteous body, break-* 
 ing his bough, fhould throw down before it were ripe. 
 
 With the following fublime defcription I {hall conclude 
 my extracts ; too much cannot be faid in commendation 
 ef its abruptnefs and vigour ; it may be confidered as the 
 
 beil
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 49 
 
 keft fpecimen of Sidney's genius, and exceeds, perhaps, 
 every thing of the kind, both aricient and modern. B. III. 
 p. 445. 
 
 *- When into the prefs comes, as hard as his horfe 
 
 (more afraid of the fpur than the fword) could carry him, 
 a knight in armour, as If lack as darknefs could make it, fol- 
 lowed by none, and adorned by nothing ; fo far without au- 
 thority, that he was without knowledge ; but virtue quickly 
 made him known, and admiration bred him fuch au- 
 thority, tint though they of whofe fide he came knew 
 him not, yet they all knew it was fit to obey him ; and 
 while he was followed by the valianteil he made way for 
 the vilefl ; for, taking part with the befiegers, he made the 
 Amphiallans blood ferve for a caparifon to his horfe, and a 
 decking to his armour. 
 
 The account of the field of battle, further on, is very 
 fine. " And now the often changing fortune began alfo 
 to change the hue of the battles ; for, at the firft, though, 
 it were terrible, yet terror was decked fo bravely with rich 
 furniture, gilt fwords, mining armours, pleafant pencils, 
 that the eye with delight had fcarce leifure to be afraid: but 
 now all univerfally defiled with duft, broken armour, 
 mangled bodies, took away the malk, and fet forth horror 
 in his own horrible manner. 1 ' B. III. p. 446. 
 
 H SEC-
 
 So FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 IN the pdetry of Goldfmith we find few ideas borrowed, 
 nor is it eafy to trace him in the paths of imitation ; of 
 his few imitations, this, perhaps, may be one : 
 
 XVhilft her fond hulband ftrove to lend relief 
 
 In all the/ifent manlinefs of grief. Deferred Village. 
 
 Mute folemn forrow, free from female tioife, 
 Such as the manlinefs of grief deftroys. 
 
 Dfyden, in his defcription of Sigifmonda. 
 
 The following line (whether of Dryden or Blackmore 
 I know not) which is remembered only to be abufed, and 
 quoted but to be laughed at, feems to have been fuggefted" 
 by a paflage in MafTmger. 
 
 " None but bimfelf ccttld be bis parallel.'* 
 
 Her goodneis does difdain companfon, 
 And, but berfelf, admits no parallel. 
 
 Duke of Milan, Scene HI. 
 
 We find a thought in Maffinger fimilar to one in the 
 Rofciad of Churchill: 
 
 I will teach 
 
 My fpaniel to howl in Iweeter language, 
 
 And Jteep a better method. Bondman, Scene III. 
 
 Parrots themfelves fpeak properly by rote, 
 
 And, in fix months, my dog mall howl by note. Rofciad, 
 
 The following much admired epigram, I cannot help 
 thinking, would be confiderably improved, if, inftead of 
 fuppofing Aeon and Leonilla brother and fitter, we con- 
 
 fider
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 51 
 
 !fj<3er them as mother and ion, and in the third line fub 
 ilitute Parenti for Sororl : 
 
 Lumine Aeon dextro, capta eft LeoniHa finiftro ; 
 Et potis ett forma vinccre uterqut Deos. 
 Blande puer, lumen quod habcs concede Sorori ; 
 Sic tu csecus Amor, fie erit ilia Venus. 
 
 Antholog. Poem, ItaL 
 
 Her ivit was more than man. her innocence a child. 
 
 Dryden to the memory of Mrs. Anne ivil'igrew. 
 
 Pope certainly had this line in his eye when he wrote 
 Gay's epitaph : 
 
 Of manners gentle, of afFcftions mild, 
 In <wit a man ; Jimplicity a child. 
 
 The " Theodore and Honoria" of Dryden, affords, 
 perhaps, more inftances of real poetry than any other of 
 Ijis fmaller productions. I cannot help thinking, that an 
 expreflion in it fuggefted a fimilar one to Mr. Collins, 
 whofe imagination muft have highJy relifhed Dryden's de- 
 fcription : 
 
 High on his ftirrups he provoked the fight, 
 Then on the crowd he caft a furious look, 
 And wither' d all their ftrength before he fpoke. 
 
 Theod. and Hon, 
 
 >" But with a frown 
 
 Revenge impatient rofe; 
 
 He threw his bloed-ftain'd fword in thunder down, 
 And, with a 'withering look, 
 The wai- denouncing trumpet took> &c. &c. 
 
 The Pafficns, an Ode, by Collins. 
 
 If we except the tragedy of Cato, to his poetry Mr. 
 
 Addifon is not indebted for much reputation ; in general 
 
 H 2 it
 
 52 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 it is either infipid or bombaflic, as when he talks of the 
 
 aquedu&s, in his letter from Italy : 
 
 ** Whole rivers here forfake the fields below, 
 
 And, ivoad'riag at their height, thro" airy channels flow." 
 
 Again, when fpeaking of the trees, he fays : 
 " Or when tranfplanted and preferv'd with care, 
 Curfe the cold clime, and ftarve in Northern air." 
 
 Letter from Italy. 
 
 It is confidently reported of him, that when he wrote 
 his account of the greateft Englifh poets to Mr. Sa- 
 cheverell, he had never read Spenfer, of whom he gives 
 a circumftantial character. I am inclined to fufpeft, from 
 the following encomiaftic lines upon the Pindarics of 
 Cowley, that he had never read them likewife : 
 
 What Mufebut thine can equal hints infpire, 
 And fit the deep-mouth'd Pindar to thy lyre ; 
 Pindar, whom others, in a labour'd drain, 
 And forc'd expreifion, imitate in vain : 
 Well pleas'd in thee, he foars with new delight, 
 And,plays in more unbounded verfe, and takes a nobler flight, 
 See Mr. Pope's opinion of Pindarics, Bock II. 
 Epift. II. Imitations of Horace, p. 73. 
 
 Each fights, as on bit arm the important day , 
 And all tic fate of bis great monarch lay. 
 
 Addifon's Campaign, 
 
 Thus Milton, Book VI, Paradife Loft, p. 238. 
 
 -- Each on himfelfrely'd, 
 As only in his arm the moment lay 
 
 Thou mak'ft the gloomy face of Nature gay, 
 Giv'ft beauty to the Sun, and pleafure to the Day. 
 
 Addifon, fpeaking of Liberty, in his Letter from Italy. 
 7 The
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 53 
 
 The cafi of this coup'et is not unlike the beginning of 
 Hayley's "'riumphs of Temper, Canto II. 
 
 Ye radiant Nymphs, whofe opening eyes convey 
 Warmth to the world, and Luftre to the day ! 
 
 Hayley, in his fine defcription of Serena's aunt, feems 
 to have had Milton in his eye. Triumphs of Temper, 
 Canto I. 
 
 A reftlefj ghoft, that, with remembrance keen, 
 Proclaim'd inceilant what it once had been; 
 Delighted flill the fleps of youth to haunt, 
 To watch the tender nymph, and warm gallant, 
 And, tuitb an eye that petrified purfuit, 
 Hang like a dragon o'er tb' Hefperian fruit* 
 
 But Beauty, like the fair Hefperian tree, 
 
 Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard 
 
 Of Dragon-iuatcb ivith uninc banted eye t 
 
 To fave her bloflbms and defend her fruit 
 
 From the rafh hand of bold incontinence. MASK. 
 
 For ftalls, like church-yards moral truths fupply, 
 And teach the wfanary Bard to die. 
 
 Hayley on Epic Poetry, Epift. IV. 
 
 And many a holy text around fhe ftrews, 
 
 7 'bat teach the rujlic moralift to die. GRAY. 
 
 The following idea is fimilar in three paflages of dif- 
 ferent poets, yet poflibly without any intention of imi- 
 tation : 
 
 , And though his face be as ill 
 
 As heirs, which in old hangings whip Chrift, ftill 
 HcTlrives to look worfe. Donne's Sat. IV. 
 
 Produce an hideous wight, more ugly far 
 Than thofe Hl/bapes which in old hanging^ are. 
 
 Oldham's Imitation of the 3d Satire of Juvenal. 
 
 'Twcrc
 
 54 .FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 'Twere well might Critics flill thii freedom take ; 
 But Appins reddens at each word you fpeak, 
 And flares, tremendous, with a threat'mng eye, 
 Like feiae forte tyrant in old tapejlry. 
 
 Pope's Efiay on Crit. p. 586. 
 
 Thomfon, in his Seafons, frequently ufes the words 
 nation and people, applied to the bird creation. Though it 
 may be defended by numberlefs inftances from the dead 
 languages ; yet I cannot help thinking in our own, it has 
 a harfli and affe&ed air : 
 
 Hufli'd in fhort fufpence 
 The plumy people ftreark their wings with oil. Spring. 
 
 He calls the birds " Plumy nations." Summer. 726. 
 We find this ufage in Spenfer likewife. Fairy Queen. 
 
 Even all the nation of unfortunate 
 
 And fatal birds about them flocked were. 
 
 Eum vafti circum gens humida ponti 
 
 Exultans rorem late difpergit amarum. 
 
 Virg. Georg. IV. p. 430. 
 
 e|oiu.- T'ayfiwy c6,n 351- Antigone. Soph. 
 
 Prior has a line in his verfes, infcribed to the memory 
 of the hon. George Villiers, which feems fuggefted by the 
 beginning of an epitaph preferred by Camden. As it 
 confiderably furpafles the epitaphs of the times in which 
 it was produced, I fhall infert it at length : 
 
 Whether thy cboyce or chance tbe? hither brings ; 
 Stay, paffenger, and waile the hap of kings, 
 This little ftone a great king's heart doth hold, 
 That ruled the fickle French, and Polacks bold, 
 
 Whom
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 55 
 
 Whom with a mighty warlike hoft attended, 
 With trayrerous knife, a cowled monfter ended. 
 So frayle are even the higheft earthly things; 
 Goe, paficngcr, and wayle the fate of kings. 
 
 It is infcribed upon the tomb of the heart of Harry lit* 
 king of France, flain by a Jacobine frier, 1589. See 
 Camden's Remains, p. 400. 
 
 Whoe'er tbou art whom choice or bufinefs leads 
 
 To this fad river or the neghbouring meads. PRIOR. 
 
 SECTION
 
 56 FUGITIVE 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 FEW fubjefts of inquiry have been inveftigated by abler 
 hands, or with greater attention, than the learning of 
 Shakfpeare; many have concluded, that the intimate 
 knowledge both of art and nature, with which his works 
 are pregnant, could only be the refult of the flrongeft ge- 
 nius, affifled by a regular education, and improved by 
 fubfequent fludy. Amongft the foremoit in this opinion 
 was Upton, a man, whofe literary errors, however occa- 
 lionally glaring, are always worth attending to, fince in 
 him, where we do not find truth, we fcldoiii mifs of in- 
 formation : to a large ftock of ancient erudition, he added 
 fome tafte, and to unwearied diligence much critical fa- 
 gacity; what ilill further inhanced the value of* the com- 
 mentator, many of his hours had been fpent amidft the 
 dry duft of the Black-letter and the folitary pages of long- 
 forgotten tranflation. The quetfion, whether or no 
 Shakfpeare had read the ancients in their refpe&ive lan- 
 guages, for a long time remained a matter of doubt ; there 
 appeared no reafon fufficiently determinate to afcertain the 
 queftion, till it was decided by the mort and fatisfaclory 
 Eflay of Dr. Farmer : a circrmftance productive of much 
 pleafure to the admirers of our Englifh bard ; as many of 
 thofe beauties, which from a knowledge of his claflical 
 ignorance can on^y be his own, would have been fre- 
 quently attributed to imitation, where paiTages in the an- 
 cients had been difcovered, in the fmalleft degree, appofite 
 or fimilar. I fhall, therefore, endeavour to point out 
 fome few inflances where the fentiments or expreflions in 
 Shakfpeare and the ancients are immediately parallel, or 
 
 paflages
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 57 
 
 pafiages where the ideas in both are carried on in a fimilar 
 fpirit. 
 
 Hi For it fo falls out, 
 
 That what we have we prize not to the worth 
 
 Whiles we enjoy it ; but being lack and loft, 
 
 Why then we rack the value, then we find 
 
 The virtue that poffeflion would net fhew us 
 
 Whilft it was ours. Much ado about Nothing, Sc. II. 
 
 yhrutem incolumem odimus, 
 
 Sublatam exoulis qujerimus invidi. Hor. Ode 24. Lib. III. 
 
 For fo Vvejlreiv'd it in the common ear. 
 
 Meafure for Meafure, Scene VII. 
 
 In vulgiim ambiguos. Virgil. Lib. II. p. 98. 
 
 uv. Soph. Eleftra, pJ 
 
 To give the kingdom for a mirth, to fit 
 And keep the turn of tilling nuitb ajlave, 
 To reel the flrcets at noon, &c. Antony and Cleop. 
 
 Invenies aliquo cum percuflbre jacentcm, 
 
 Permiftum nautis, aut furibus, aut fugitives ; 
 
 Inter carnifices, et fabros Sandapilarum, 
 
 Efc refupinati cefiantia tympana Galli : 
 
 JEqua ibi libertas, communia pocula. , &c. &c. Juveniiis 
 
 " For he hath wit to make an il! fliape good." 
 
 Catharine fpeakingof Dumain, Aft. II. Sc. I. L. Lab. Loft. 
 
 From this poflibly Milton might take an idea in his 
 "Paodifc Loft : 
 
 " To make the wqrfe appear 
 The better caufc.
 
 5 8 FUGITIVE P I EIC E S. 
 
 To move wild laughtr in the throat of death. 
 
 Love's Labour loft, Seene X. 
 
 From this thought an extreme grotefque idea in Milton 
 feems to have originated. Comus, p, 560. 
 
 * I was all ear, 
 And took in ftrains that might create afoul 
 Under the ribs of death. 
 
 The lives of all your loving complices 
 
 Lean on your health. Henry IV. part IL 
 
 Thus Amata fays to Turnus, Virgil, Lib. XII. 
 
 i .... decus imperiumque Latini 
 Te penes j in te ornnis domus inclinata recumbit. 
 
 Whofe horrid image doth unfix my hair 
 
 And make my feated heart knock at my ribs. , Shakfpear*, 
 
 Thus Andromache, when fhe hears the voice of la- 
 fxieiitation for the death of Hector, exclaims : 
 
 !, K p~*J* 
 
 Z-rnQie-i n^.XaTw NT5J ava r^- ' Horn. II. XXII. p. 452. 
 
 Virgil, in the Gcorgics, fpeaking of the mixture of 
 Hope and Fear : 
 
 - - Exultantiaque haurit 
 Corda pawor pulfans. III. 106. 
 
 The ancient cuftom of fwearing by the eyes Shakfpearc 
 }jas introduced ; 
 
 r T love you, Sir, 
 
 Dearer than eye-fight, fpace, and liberty. LEAR V 
 
 Madam, he fwore, that he did hold me dear 
 
 As precious eye-fight* Love's Labour Loft, 
 
 ^Efchylus. Thebes, Ag. VII. p. 635. 
 
 Thus
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES, 59 
 
 Thus Catullus : 
 
 Ni te plus oculis tneis amarent. 
 
 Etfi perque fuds fallaxjurarii ocellos. 
 
 Tibullus, Eleg. VI. pj 47. 
 
 There is a common metaphor taken from wax, and 
 transfered to the pliability of the features of the mini 
 frequently ufed by the ancients : this we likewife find ia 
 Shakfpeare. 
 
 Cereus in vitiunr fleU. fron. 
 
 Exigite ut mores tcneros ceu pollice ducat, 
 
 Ut fi quis cera vultum facit. Juv. Sat. VII, 
 
 Artifictmque tuoducit fubpollice vultum. Perf. Sat. V 
 
 What fay you, Hermia ? be advis'd, fair maid, 
 
 To you your father mould be as a God j 
 
 One that compos'd your beauties ; yea and one 
 
 To whom you are but as A form in 'wax, 
 
 By him imprinted ; and within bis power 
 
 To Itane the figure, or disfigure it. Shakfpeare. 
 
 Richard the Second is vilited, during his confinement \i 
 Pomfret caftle, by a man who had formerly been a groom 
 in his fervice ; the man, upon feeing his old mailer, be- 
 gins by mentioning a profellional circumftance, the mo.1 
 fimple and the moil affe&ing : 
 
 Groom, " O how it yearned my heart, when I beheld 
 
 In London ftteets that coronation^day ; 
 
 When Bolingbrooke rode on Roan Barbary, 
 
 That horfe that thou Ib often haft bedrid ; 
 
 That horfe thit I fo carefully have drefs'd ! 
 K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary ? tell me, gentle friend, 
 
 How went he under him ? 
 Groom. S;> proudly a* hv had dii'dained the ground. 
 
 1 * K. Ric'i.
 
 6o FUGITIVE PIECES^ 
 
 K. Rich^ So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back ! 
 
 That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand, 
 This hand hath made him proud with clapping him, 
 Would he notjlumble ? would he not fall down, 
 (Since pride muft have a fall) and break the neck 
 Of that proud man that did ufurp bis back ?" 
 
 The fpirit of thefe three lafi lines is not unlike that in 
 the beautiful and pathetic addrefs of Mezentius to his 
 horfe : 
 
 Rhcebe diu (res fi qua diu mortalibus ulla eft), 
 Viximus : aut hodie victor fpolia ilia diemque 
 Et caput JEneae rcfcres, Laufujue dolorum 
 Ultor eris mecum ; aut apcrit fi nulla viafn vis, 
 Occumbes paritcr : neque cnim fortij/ime credo 
 j/u/a alienapati et dominos dignabere Teucros. 
 
 jEn. X. ver. 60, 
 
 I have always con'fidered the fcene in Which Clarence 
 begs his life, as one of the beft in Shakfpeare : in the fol- 
 lowing lines, where he artfully mixes felicitation with 
 reproof, there is a near refemblance to that animated 
 fpeech of Antigone's in Sophocles : in which Ihe anfwers 
 the interrogations of Creon : 
 
 i Vill. " What we will do, we do upon command, 
 
 2. Vill. And he that hath commanded is our king. 
 
 Clarence. Erroneous vaflals ! the great king of king", 
 Hath in the table of his law commanded 
 That thou fhait do no murder. Will you then 
 Spurn at his edict, and fulfil a man's ? 
 Take hoed, for he holds vengeance in his hands 
 To hurl upon their heads that break his faw." 
 
 Richard 111. Scene VI. 
 
 Crftm. !!.>.{ T.T /.^'./-/'ii/a. .-.f TTTHV T*Jf ; 
 Anl'g. H.J-i. Ti i' w-'- iiJtiKu J f,uirc*5 y-g > 
 Craon. Kaw OIT tTaAjAta,- TX^ct j,T;:&e i my -i!>fj.a; \ 
 
 Antig.
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 6t 
 
 Oy yaj 11 fj.it Ztti; 
 
 Menenius fays in Coriolanus : 
 
 He was not taken well ; he bad not dined. 
 
 The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then 
 
 We pout upon the morning, are unapt 
 
 To give or to forgive 5 but when we have ftuff'd 
 
 Thefe pipes, and thefe conveyances of our blood 
 
 With wine and feeding, we have fupler fouls 
 
 Than in our prieftlike fafts : therefore I'll watch him, 
 
 And then I'll fet upon him. Acl V Scene I. 
 
 One of the goffips in Theocritus, who had been to the 
 feftival of Adonis, has the fame thought, where fhe 
 urges her hu&and's phlegm before dinner, as an excufe 
 for her departure. See Idyll. 15. 
 
 ilo8jUu;{ x'fif ocxaV rtta.y^^' Atty.Xw^aj 
 Xui' 'vi o|^- ayav r.t iva ; yf (jwZnroT n9nt 
 
 Tacitus, in his work " de moribus Germanorum," 
 has a curious remark of the fame nature. " Sed et tie 
 reconciliandis invicem inimicis, et fungendis affinitatibas^ 
 et adfcifcendis pnncipiis, de pace denique et bello plc- 
 rumque in conviviis confultant : tan^uam nulio magis tt'>n~ 
 pore aut ad Jimp! ices cogitationes patcal animus, ant ad mag- 
 nas incalefcat" 
 
 Impranfus non qui civcm dignofcerct hofte. Epod. Hor. 
 
 2 Shakfpeare,
 
 2 FUGITIVE PIECES, 
 
 Shakfpeare, in a moft natural dcfcription of Coriolanus, 
 which is given by one fervant to another, Teems to have 
 had his eye upon a pafTage in the Pfalms : 
 
 Scrv. " Why he is fomade on here within, as if he were fon and 
 heir to Mars : fet at upper end of the table, no queftion alked him by 
 any of the fenators, but they ftand bald before him j our general 
 himfelf makes a mijirefs of him; fam&ifies himfelf with his hand, and 
 turns up the 'white of bis eye to his difcourfe." Scene V. 
 
 See Pfalm CXXIII. 
 
 " Behold even as the eye,s of fervants look unto the hands of their 
 maflers, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the band of her mijirefs ; even 
 fo our eyes wait upon the Lord until he have mercy upon us.' 1 
 
 Again. See Pfalm CXXX. 
 
 " If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amifs : O 
 Lord, who may abide it ? 
 
 How would you be, 
 
 If he, which is the top of judgement, fhould 
 
 But judge you a* you are. Meafure for Mcafure.
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 65 
 
 Aa INVOCATION to HEALTH. 
 
 THOU, holy Air, and you ye light-wing'd Gales, 
 Ye {breams that ceafe not, but in fleeplefs flow 
 Invite the mufe-led Wanderer to your banks, 
 And all the painted cohort of the Spring, 
 Primrofe, and coftly pink, and daffodil ; 
 Thou too, illuilrious Orbit, I invoke, 
 Servants of God, be prefent to my fong. 
 
 Come, jolly Health, with ever-laughing eye, 
 And ruddy cheek, thou whom the Mufes love, 
 On whom the rofy -finger'd Hours attend, 
 'Tis at thy word, the Swain with fturdy foot, 
 O'er the fmooth mare incumbent turns the glebe, 
 Caroling the foul of ruftic harmony ; 
 Or heaps with ready hand, in proud array, 
 The fwelling haycock fcorching in the fun, 
 Or lays in ample decent mocks expos'd, 
 The rich and goodly produce of the year. 
 Daughter of Spring, aufpicious Maid, attend, 
 For in thy honour moves my humble (train. 
 
 Give me to dwell with thee, where high the cliff 
 Uplifts in air its fhagg'd and cumb'rous head, 
 Where the lone cataraft cKafes the folid rock, 
 Flinging its whiten' d wave adown the vale, 
 Where fcarce expos'd to the rude grafp of man, 
 In decent pride the lily fpreads its fweets, 
 While to the violet plies the amorous bee 
 Its fong full fondly, and in fhriller notes 
 Aflfwer the harmlefs Syrens of the grove. 
 
 What
 
 54 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 What time the flaming Sirius parchM the year, 
 As flretch'd beneath a (lately oak I lay, 
 The God of dreams bade this fair profpeft. rife ; 
 Here, thought I, pleafmg Melancholy dwells, 
 "With arched brow, and eye that loves the ground j 
 As o'er the fcene my bufy fancy rov'd. 
 The Maid herfelf appear'd-r-lovely me was, 
 Lovely, as to the wearied Sailor's eye, 
 Shews the full radiance of the golden Sun, 
 Rifing to light the watry wildernefs, 
 O'er which, long time, the winds had tyranniz'd, 
 In full confufion tofTing ev'ry wave. 
 She flood. Her treffes floated in the wind, 
 And golden fandals bound the Virgin's feet, > 
 
 And to the gale full many a figh fhe gave, 
 Nor ought regarded how the rifing furge 
 Sprinkled her ioofen'd veft. Aurora s rofe 
 Dew-fed, and blufhing, fhew'd not half fo fair. 
 Onward with fearching eye I gaz'd, when lo ! 
 A youth, whom Venus felf might love, appear 'd ? 
 And thus beneath a willow tree reclin'd, 
 To mocking winds in accents fad he fpake. 
 " Forth Halk'd the power of Peftilence accurfl, 
 ' And havock Ioofen'd on the race of man, 
 " Nor the pure charm of Virgin innocence, 
 *' Nor aught the vigour of the young availed, 
 ' Bearded old Age found burial premature, 
 " And Beauty fell, and Valour kifs'd the dull. 
 " The lovely young Melifla once was mine, 
 *' And fair fhe was. Pride of my amorous fong ; 
 " Perch'd on her dimpled check fat Venus' boy, 
 " Smiling deftrucUoa on the gazing croud, 
 
 And
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 65 
 
 " And on herbofom bloffom'd young defire j 
 
 4t No more the vivid lightning of her eye, 
 
 *' Where rcvell'd erft the tyranny of Love, 
 
 " Strikes pleafing pain to each beholder's fyeart. 
 
 *' Grim Pluto envied my fuperior blifs, 
 
 * c And fnatch'd the blooming maiden from my arms. 
 
 " Yet not in terrors came, nor wifli'd, nor fear'd, 
 
 " For filent as the dew at eve (he fell ; 
 
 44 Hope, that can give the (hipwreck'd faiior eafe, 
 
 " As round the (hatter'd plank dafh the wild waves, 
 
 *' To me is dead. Mclifla is no more. 
 
 " Now not the magic of the Poet's fong 
 
 " Can tune my foul to harmony : And thou, 
 
 4 * Mufic, beft gift of heaven,. that o'er the min4 
 
 " Bear'ft haughty fway, and guid ft it as the helm 
 
 " Guides the proud fhip, canft now no more enchant. 
 
 '* Joylefs to me, the Sun his viiit pays, 
 
 *' Nor aught the gentle moon-beams can refrclh 
 
 *' My foul, fatigued with forrows of the day. 
 
 411 Comfort, to thee farewell^-here will I fit, 
 
 " And ever emulate the bird of night, 
 
 " Mouthing mock, melody.-^ Come, foul Defpair, 
 
 *' And in this bofom (halt thou (belter find." 
 
 Thus fung the youth, or thus he feem'd to fing, 
 Nor in more pleaiing melancholy ftrain, 
 The Halcyons pour their notes, or from the bank, 
 Sings its lafl folemn dirge, the dying fwan. 
 To thee, oh Health, again my itrains return ; 
 With Thee my fong began, with Thee (hall end ; 
 When as by Spring relax'd, the teeming Eartk 
 Opens again her bofom to the plough, 
 
 K Again
 
 66 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 Again all nature feems to fmile around, 
 
 Again rejoicing in his length of neck, 
 
 With oary feet the fwan divides the flream, 
 
 And proudly loofens to the coming gale 
 
 His fnow-white plumage, while the watery tribe, 
 
 Exulting, leap above the topmoft wave, 
 
 And quaff the vital air. Then on the green. 
 
 The village celebrates the rifing year , 
 
 High tofs'd in air the founding cymbals fly, 
 
 Nor wanting is the fife, or thund'ring drum, 
 
 And tun'd to notes of bafer harmony. 
 
 The horn melodious winds, the jolly horn 
 
 Doubles its notes, and doubles yet again, 
 
 While hills, woods, ftreams, and valleys ring around. 
 
 Then at thy bidding, Health, the ruflic Youths, 
 In circle firm, join in the rougher fports, 
 Aided by- thee, the football mounts in air, 
 By Thee the village hero bears the prize ; 
 Him, when contending with the ufeful throng, <*<> 
 Whether his arm the folid ceftus heave, 
 Or urge the flying Difcus to its mark, 
 The croud encourage with repeated (houts, 
 And oft the glance of Envy marks the deed. 
 
 Oft at this Seafon, the rebellious North, 
 With dire intent to biaft the bloom of Spring, 
 Comes from his iron cave rufhing amain, 
 And hurries with him rain, and hail, and fnow. 
 Then what avails the gaily fpotted wing, 
 On which the May-fly fported, to the day 
 Giving its painted plumes, in idle hope 
 
 To-
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 67 
 
 To-morrow's Sun with equal ray would gild, 
 And equal honour blefs his happy flight ? 
 In vain the Orchard then puts forth its buds, 
 And glads the hind with faireft promifes ; 
 He, not unmov'd, beholds his hopes deceived, 
 And weeps the falling honours of the year. 
 
 Thine be it, Health, to bind th' oppreflive blafl, 
 And thine own Seafon grant a kinder fate. 
 When now the Summer bids the ripen'd year, 
 A furer profpecl bear of happinefs ; 
 Thrice bleft are they who know the upland lawn, 
 Ere yet the tumult of the day begins, 
 When firft the Mower from the tow'ring grafs, 
 The dew-drop darning, lowly dips his fcythe, 
 When fcarce the Jay is hoarfe, or from the brake 
 The blackbird's whiflle rouze his gay compeers. 
 To hail the coming of the God of Day. 
 
 Big with thy bleflings, Health, each feafon fmiles, 
 E'en when the noon-tide Sun unftrings the nerve, 
 The dog-ftar raging, nor a breeze is heard 
 To make the leaves, filent the feather'd choir, 
 When the proud ftream that in imperious for% 
 Bore down its banks opponng, nor content, 
 But onward taking its deftru&ive way, 
 Delug'd the promis'd year, now creeps along, 
 Slow and confin'd, fcarce daring chafe its mores, 
 With thee 'tis joy to feek the cooling made 
 Where ftillnefs reigns, fave while the Grafshopper 
 Chirps the long day his ileep inviting fong. 
 
 K 2 Vain
 
 68 FUGITIVE PIECES. , 
 
 Vain without thee were Autumn's golden gifts, 
 The purple necVrine, and the downy peach, 
 And taftelefs all ; thou giv'ft luxurious Man, 
 To know the relifh of the mellow fig, 
 And pluck him from beneath the melt'ring leaf, 
 Idly fecure : But for thy influence,- 
 The ripening clnfter would unheeded fwell, 
 And Icarce libations know the rofy God. 
 Tis thou who cheer'ft the merry reapers heart, 
 As low he {loops amid the yellow grain, 
 To" win his way ! 'Tis thou whofe watchful hand 
 Protects him, while to reft his wearied limbs 
 Beneath the fhadowing elm he fleeps outftrefch'cf? 
 Or, as his liftlefs length he lays fatigued 
 When haply now the noontide meal is o'er, 
 In iilence wond'ring to what curious point 
 The traveller cloud is haftening, from what foufc* 
 So vaft, fo boxsndkfs comes the fleecy ffcore. 
 
 Again, I call thee, Goddefs, to my fong, 
 Come with thy bonnet blue, and bufldn'd leg, 
 Thou, that canft give the village maiden's eye, 
 To fparkle like the dew-d?op of the morn, 
 As up the hill me hies at early day, 
 Chearing with jocund fong the loncfome walk. 
 Thee, the ftout Laplander, with ready prayer, 
 Invokes, as o'er the harden'd element, 
 Dauntlefs he flies on pinions borne more fwift 
 Than the north wind, with all his evils arm'd. 
 If thou canft liften to the favage fong 
 Of Arab wild, or Tartar ftain'd with blood, 
 
 Let
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 69 
 
 Let not the hamlet call with vow unheard ; 
 
 Nature her fleecy carpet thick has fpread, 
 
 Which growing ftill, ftill grows the want of thec. 
 
 This is the feafon when from the infernal cave 
 Iflued the daughter fell of Tartarus, 
 His eldeft born, and narri'd black fuicide. 
 She, whom the brave man from his midnight couch, 
 Tho' Grief, Dcfpair, and Pain around him wait, 
 Indignant fpurns, fcorning his profFer'd Love. 
 The coward catches, and in lucklefs hour, 
 With her embarking feeks a fhore unknown, 
 His pilot gone, and heedlefs where he lands. 
 
 But turn we rather to the happier fcene, 
 Where in broad circle round the crackling flame 
 Crowd the brown peafants, and the livelong houf 
 In homely talk beguile, ot from the bowl, 
 Call forth in boifl'rous mirth the lurking God. 
 While the wide whitening tempeft idly beats, 
 Meantime the houfewife fits not unemploy'd. 
 She, in clofe flannel wraps the callow brood 
 Of the loud-cackling hen, and from the flame 
 Supplies with borrow'd warmth, the wick of life.- 
 
 In fuch like duties pafs the chearful days, 
 Till ev'ning comes, and though her fhadowy train 
 Envelope earth and all the face of things, 
 No heart from joy eftrang'd the Peafant knows, 
 Again the crackling billet highly piTd, 
 Gladdens his heart, and while the taper's light/ 
 Gives to the paffing flranger tranfient joy ; 
 
 6 Old
 
 70 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 Old age fits fmiling from the wicked chair, 
 Content that labour is no more its lot. 
 
 Thus be it ever to the lab'ring hand ; 
 While youth and vigour fit him for the field, 
 His be the love of toil, and his the palm 
 With which the village decks its bfaveft fons. 
 And now, when Stealing time has cropt the rofe 
 That wont to bloflbm on his cheek, and age, 
 Though ufelefs, not unhonour'd, borne him down. 
 May age its comfort to itfelf fupply ; 
 Thefe bleffings grant, thou that in dewy fhowers, 
 The wings of Zephyr clotheil, lighting foft, 
 To cheer the bofom of the harden'd earth. 
 And wake the plant creation to new life ; 
 Or giv'ft the northern blafl a keener tooth, 
 As o'er the plain the tyrant fweeps along 
 Than hungry wolves night howling o'er their prey. 
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 ( ?I ) 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 EXTRACTS. 
 
 TN the Town and Country Magazine for March, 1783, the Lamen- 
 tation of Llwarch-hen was introduced by the following preface : 
 " The fuggeftions which have arifen, in confequence of the publica- 
 tions of Macpherfon's Ollian, and Evan's Specimens of Welch Poetry, 
 feem to have fummoned the attention of the learned to refearches, 
 into which the eye of inveftigation had never before penetrated, or 
 the hand of curiofity attempted to explore. Having lately been in 
 the library of the Louvre in Fiance, for the purpofe of examining 
 fome fcarce books for a friend, 1 was not a little diverted with the 
 fight of fome old Poems and Romances in the Welch, Italian, and 
 French languages j and in the former part of my life, having been 
 fituated in Merionethihire, I there acquired the Welch language, and 
 where, indeed, the old dialect is ftill retained in greater preferva- 
 tion than in any other county. From thefe circumftances, I was 
 induced to tranflate a part (as far as it was legible) of one of the 
 fhortell poemi intending, at the fame time, to have tranfcribed fome 
 of the originals, had not bufinefs which I could not omit, and avo- 
 cations that were not to be difpenfed with, obliged me to defift. Bu: 
 may this prove an ufeful hint to all examiners into Antiquity, who 
 'may ever vifit thofe claflkal regions from whence I have attempted 
 to tranfplant this fmall, but fragrant flower. I could not, however, 
 quit the library without copying the following lines, which were 
 written in French upon the back of the manufcript, from whence 
 this is tranflated : 
 
 " Tbi: manufcript, ivitb many others of the fame kind, formerly be- 
 longed to the collefiion of that celebrated Antiquary Scipio Maffei, tf 
 Vfrona." OXONIENSIS. 
 
 la
 
 12 APPENDIX, 
 
 In the abovementioned Magazine for June, 1783, Llwen and 
 Gyneth was introduced in the following manner : " To the editor of 
 the Town and Country Magazine : Sir, by inferting the following, 
 you will much oblige your conftant reader, John Williams. The 
 having feen in your Magazine for March, a fpccimen of Welch. 
 poetry, has induced me to fubmit the following tranflation to your 
 readers, as not unworthy their notice. To the kindnefs and friend- 
 fhip of Arthur Price, cfq. I am indebted for the perufal of the manu- 
 fcript, from the ftyle of which, together with fome other concurring 
 circumftances, too tedious to mention, I am induced to conclude it 
 is the compofition of Taliefin Ben Beiridd, who lived about the year 
 534. Mr. Evans has made a trifling miftake in fettling the date : 
 the difficulty that gentleman met with in perufing this bard, I feel 
 from experience, is an afTertion but too well founded ; he js fcldom 
 flighty, though always obfcure ; and the tincture of Druidical doc- 
 trine with which his poetry abounds, ferves not a little to render it 
 unintelligible : the reader muft attribute whatever baldnefs he meets 
 with in the tranflation, to my defire of JlriElly adhering to the ori- 
 ginal, as I am well convinced how much every language fuffers from. 
 paraphraftic ornament, and what an influx of foreign ideas is ad- 
 mitted by expanfion. Some lines at the beginning I have omitted, as 
 they fcem both unneceffary and obfcure, and not at all of a piece 
 with the reft : the opening addrefs to her foul is eminently beautiful, 
 and feems a mode of expiefiion often ufed by the ancients. See CaJ- 
 limachus's Hymn to Delos. 
 
 3ci Tva otov j WOT' anVjij 
 
 See likewife the Pfalms : " Why art thou fo heavy, O my foul, 
 why art thou fo difquieted within me ?'* The fubjecl is very poetical 
 and pathetic. Llwen the daughter of Yrganvy is feeking for her 
 captured lover Gyneth, who is confined in the caille of Llathryth. 
 She fets out upon her journey in the night (probably to elude the 
 observation of the enemy) : upon arriving near the caftle, fhe fees 3 
 form by the light of the moon, which fhe finds is her lover, and ad- 
 drefies it, but finds it his fpiiit, which informs her he is no more, 
 and exhorts her to leave him, and ercft a grave to his memory. 
 
 After
 
 APPENDIX, 73 
 
 After the words " I hear nought favc the hollow-beating ware," 
 was the following note : Here are feme lines illegible. Arfoel fig- 
 nifies ' upon the green." Perhaps it was the feat of his father; and 
 the meaning of the paflage is, " 1 will not look back upon or return 
 to the houfc of my father, which ftands upon the green, but will hafte 
 to execute your orders." This idea is delicately touched, and is one 
 cf thofc little ftrokes of nature which are always run down and ex- 
 panded in modern poetry, till they are totally loft. Llathryth comes 
 from Llathr, bright, i. e. confpicuous. 
 
 As the author's original intention was to have carried on this de- 
 ception by other pieces of a fimilar nature, he, in the Town and 
 Country Magazine forf June, inferted the following letter : " Since an 
 opportunity of confulting the king of France's library has lately of- 
 fered itfelf, I cannot refift the temptation, Mr. Editor, of folicking, 
 through the channel of your paper, fome information from 
 Oxonicnfis, relative to the original Welch manufcript, from which 
 his transition is taken. I am defirous of knowing in what divifion, 
 and under what number it may be found, and to whom I am parti- 
 cularly to apply for the perufal. My good wiflies and zeal for every 
 thing that relates to the honour of my countrymen the bards will, I 
 hope, be a fufficient apology for the feeming abruptnefs of this appli- 
 cation. The end, Ijkewife, which Oxonienfis feems folicitous to 
 promote, will, in fome degree, be accomplilhed, as I purpofe collat- 
 ing all the Welch manufcripts in the Louvre which necelfity pre- 
 vented him from examining. Some of them, no doubt, will illuftrate 
 pafTages in our hiftory which are now ur.fpttled ; others will connect 
 its broken chain of events, and refcue long-forgotten fafts from ob- 
 livion ; at all events, fparks of new light will be caft over the untrod- 
 den field of Welch poetry, which at prefent is irregular, confuted, 
 and uncertain, where even the operations of ingenuity can make but 
 a flow progrefs, and where conjecture muft fo often fupply the pUcc 
 gf information." 
 
 Since
 
 74 APPENDIX. 
 
 Since the printing off of page 50, I accidentally met with an ac- 
 count of this line. See Granger's Biography, vol. III. p. 273. 
 
 *' Colonel Giles Strangcways, of Melbury Sampford, in Dorfetfhire. 
 
 " The reft fame fpeaks, and makes his virtues known, 
 
 " By his zeal for the church, and loyalty to the throne. 
 
 The artift in this draft doth art excel, 
 
 * None but bimfelf, bimjelf can parallel. 
 
 " But if his fteel could his great mind cxprefs, 
 
 " That would appear in a much nobler drefs." 
 
 * Theobald feems to have adopted this line, with very little va- 
 riation, in his " Double Falfehood 5" namely, 
 
 " None but himfelf can be his parallel." 
 
 The thought is fo fingular, that it is extremely improbable that 
 two perfons fhould have hit upon it, and varied fo little in the cx- 
 preflion. Sir W. Temple has varied more, where, fpeaking of Caefar, 
 he fays, that he was " equal only to himfelf." Eflay on the Gardens 
 of Epicurus. 
 
 To the obfervations on Goldfmith, p. 50, may be added this paf- 
 fage, which fome lines from Quarles (a poet by no means juftly 
 abufed) fecm to have hinted : 
 
 Howbleft is he who crowns in (hades like thefe, 
 A youth of labour with an age of cafe. 
 
 Deferted Village. 
 
 A fervant's labour doth at length furceafe, 
 His day of travel finds a night of peace. 
 
 i Quarles's Job Militant, p. 204.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 To the obfcrvations on Johnfon, p. 3640, may be added tho 
 following pafiages : 
 
 " And continues to this day a place of great wealth and dreadful 
 wickednefs ; a den of tyrants, and a dungeon ofjlaves." 
 
 Speaking of Jamaica, in his Political State of Great Britain, .p. 43. 
 
 Goldfmith, in his Traveller, fays the fame of Holland : 
 
 At Gold's fuperior charms all freedom flies, 
 The needy fell it, and the rich man buys ; 
 A land of tyrants, and a den ofjlaves, &c. &c. 
 
 There none are Avept by fudden fate away 
 
 But all whom hunger fparcs with age decay. Johnf. Lond. 
 
 So long has plague left pure the ambient air, 
 That want muft prey on thofe difeafe would fpare ? 
 
 Savage. 
 
 One celebrated line feems borrowed. The EfTay calls a perfect 
 character " a faultlefs monfter which the world ne'er faw." Scaliger, 
 in his poem!;, terms Virgil Sine labe monflrum. Sheffield can fcarcely 
 be fuppofed to have read Scaliger's poetry : perhaps he found the 
 words in a quotation. Johnfon's Life of Sheffield, p. 471. 
 
 This is not an improbable conjecture, as we find the very expref- 
 fion in a whimfical, though elegant addrefs to Robert Baron, upon 
 his EPOTOHAirNlON, or Cyprian Academy, 1648, by Chriftopher 
 Baret; it begins " Qua fronte ambulat monflrum iliud Jine labe? 
 nefcis ignare ? audiesj the book might have been popular in its day, 
 and Sheffield might have feen it. 
 
 Perhaps the verfes to the memory of Chatterton, page 8, will be 
 more appropriated if they are thrown into the form of an Qde, by- 
 adding the two following ftanzas: 
 
 ODE
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ODE to the Memory of CHATTERTON. 
 
 hunc inopern vidiftis Athena?, 
 
 Nil praeter gelidas aufe conferrc cicutas. 
 
 TLL-fated Youth, adieu, was thine a br,eaft 
 Where fell Defpair might fix her dark rcfolve, 
 
 To mar thy fim pie heart, 
 
 And (hatch Thee from the world > 
 Whilft Fancy finds a friend, and Genius charm*, 
 With high afpiring thought and eagle eye, 
 
 Thy fainted memory 
 
 Shall ever facred live. 
 
 When Spring, with fcanty reft and maiden (mile, 
 Leads on the fprightly months and infant year, 
 
 Her tears of morning dew 
 
 Shall wet thy death-bed cold. 
 When jocund Summer with her honied breath 
 (Sweetning the golden grain and blithfome gale) 
 
 Difplays her fun-burnt face 
 Beneath the hat of ft raw. 
 When fober Autumn with iack-luftre eye^ 
 Shakes with a bitter blaft the yellow ieaf, 
 
 And hears the Woodman's fong, 
 
 And early Sporti'man's foot, 
 .The Lilv's hanging head, tin. Panfy pale 
 (i'oor Fancy's readied followers), in meek 
 
 Attire, fiiall deck thy turf 
 
 And withering lie with Thee. 
 V'";-,f n naked Winter, like a Pilgrim gtey, 
 Of vei left rude afpccl and jovlds brow, 
 
 Calls forth the carol wild, 
 
 And trims the focial fire) 
 Jlemcmbiauce oft in Pity's pen five ear, 
 .At filfiu eve fliall forrowing toll thy knell, 
 
 And tell to after- day i 
 
 Thy taic, thy luckltfs tale. 
 
 F I N 
 
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