232 



dci^rM! of excelleiUJe, is, however, not 

 very difficult to l)e obtained, and we 

 may notice Bloonifield,and a still more 

 recent candidate, Clare, amongst those 

 who have attempted, with success, to 

 delineate our native sceneiy and man- 

 nos. To form a componilion of this 

 kind upon a classical model, wliile it 

 raises the character, must considerably 

 enhance the difficulty of the task, and 

 require a great share of ingenuity and 

 originality to give if any degree of in- 

 terest. An undertaking of this sort, 

 executed with very respectable ability, 

 has given rise to these observations, 

 and we shall proceed to lay a short 

 sketch of the poem befoie our readers 

 with some specimens, which will, we 

 think, be entitled to their favourable 

 opinion. 



Under the title of " Amarynthus, 

 the Nympholept," the author has 

 taken advantage of that natural and 

 pleasing superstition of the ancients, 

 which peopled the woods, and lakes, 

 and winds, with creatures of the ele- 

 ments, to work up a little Pastoral 

 drama, ornamented with no inconsi- 

 derable portion of poetical grace and 

 beauty.The Nympholepts of the Greeks 

 were men supposed to he possessed by the 

 nymphs, whose angry appearance, when 

 they shew(!d themselves to some care- 

 less intruder on their haunts, was sup- 

 posed to drive him to madness. Tlie 

 Nympliolept is represented in the per- 

 son of Amarynthus, a polished Atlie- 

 nian, whose devoted love of the cliarms 

 of nature, has led him to abandon the 

 dissipations of the city, and to seek 

 amidst the groves of Tempc communion 

 with the "mysterious powers, which 

 were supposed (o haunt their precincts. 

 In the pursuit of this object, he en- 

 counters a disguised shepherdess, who 

 for the purpose of eloping with her 

 lover has assumed the character of a 

 Drj'ad, anil threatened by her with 

 dreadful visitations, is plunged by the 

 force of his imagination, into the hor- 

 rors of real phreuzy. From this state 

 he is relieved by the beneficent inter- 

 ference of a real nymph, who compas- 

 sionates his suti'erings, and is so far 

 induenced by her love, as to exchange 

 her immortal lot for tha. of humanity, 

 the only condition upon which she can 

 unite her fate with that of her earthly 

 lover. This incident forms the only 

 part of the poem which can lay much 

 claim to originality. The underplot 

 consists of the love adventures of a 

 foithful pair, thwarted ia their affec- 



New.^ from PurHa^suis.— JSo. If. 



1 April J, 



tions, as usual, and m u<iual, at last 

 united. 



The scene opens with an address 

 from the priest of Fan. 

 " Upon our altar, let this lambkin fair, 

 Burn as a holocaust, until its smoke 

 Curl up into the lofty blue, and bear 

 Our breathings to the God, whom we in- 

 voke ! 

 Thou great and good, all hail! Whatever 



tongue 

 May best befit Thee from adoring man, 

 Mendes or Chemmes to Egyptians sung 

 By seven-mouthed Nile, or compreheisive 



Pan, 

 By the primeval shepherds named, that 



trod 

 The new-horn hilts of Arcady, all hail ! 

 They, when their yearning hearts required 



a God, 

 Sat on their mountains musing, till the gale 

 Of Inspiration bade them recognize 

 A mighty spirit breathing thro' the whole 

 Infinitude of ocean, earth and skies. 

 The world's Creator, aud its living soul : 

 A self-existent, ever-flowing stream 

 Of light aud life, pervading, blossiug Ali,, 

 And hence, ejaculating- " Pan !" with fall 

 Of reverent knees, they hail'd thee, God 



supreme. 

 — To this elherial spirit, fancy soon 

 Gave form indefinite ; the sun and moon 

 Became the eyes aud index of its mind. 

 The tides its pulses, and its breath, the 



wind. 

 A later age gave emblematic birth 

 To an ideal shape, half brute, half man. 

 Of the mix'd elements of heaven and earth 

 Daring to fashion a symbolic Pan ; — 

 His upper portion typified mankind, 

 His lower parts the brutes : his horns out- 

 bent 

 The spreading rays of sun and moon de- 

 fined: 

 His spotted skin, the starry firmament : 

 His face, the ruddy sky: his seven-reed, 



pipe, . 

 The music of the seven unfolded spheres- 

 Alas ! how soon the heavenly archetype 

 In the terrestrial symbol disappears. 

 Our sires embodied Deity had shewn : 

 The human capriform their sons retained 

 They deified, and impiously stain'd 

 With earthly lusts to sanctify their own. 

 TTiou desecrated holiness ! forgive 

 The dark distortions that thy name defile ; 

 O spare the guilty worshippers who live 

 In creeds impure and profanations vile. 

 And hear thy priest, who, stung with shame 



and grief 

 Cries out to Thee for sanctifying aid. 

 That his benighted flock he may persuade 

 Back to the pure and primitive belief." 



In the metre of this passsage, and in- 

 deetl in general, through the whole pas- 

 toml, the poet has judiciously adopted 



that 



