1 791' LITERARY INTELLIGENCER. 223 



his genial heat reftore life and beauty to the face of na- 

 ture. But the flowers to which the poet's thoughts 

 were turned, were never again to bloffom. Thej were 

 cut off for ever. The place which once knew them, 

 flionld knov/ them no more. 



The pafTion, tlierefore, which we mud fupppfe pre- 

 vailing in the poet's mmd, and which he defcribes in 

 the poem, is grief: Grief of a peculiarly aggravated 

 kind ; and which we, who live in happier times, can- 

 not eafily conceive. The fcrrow was general in the 

 country. Many a mother then bewailed lier fon : many 

 a fifter her brother: many a widow herhulhand : many 

 a maid her lover. No family but had caufe to -weep 

 at the mention of Flodden Field. 



It is tlie nature of this palTion to dwell on thofe cir- 

 cumftances which nourilh it ; and to aggravate the 

 mifery of the prefent, by contra{\ing it with the joys 

 of the paft. This is exemplified in the poem now be- 

 fore us. The great caufe of the grief, the death of the 

 young warriors, is repeated in almoll every ftanza : and 

 all the circumftances introduced, have a tendency to 

 heighten the forrow. • 



There feems, indeed, great art in the feleflion of 

 thefe circumllances. The poet did not mean to paint 

 the efFei5bj of grief upon tlie whole body of the people. 

 This could not liave been fuccefsfuUy attempted in a 

 fliort poem. He therefore confined himfelf to paint its 

 ciFeCls on thofe whofe fuuation, he well knew, would 

 in general be moft interciling, namely, the virgins. Nor 

 does he defcribe all the various ways in which they 

 might be aiTcfted by tliis difaftrous event ; he confiders 

 it only in one point of view, and that too, the mofl 

 interelling, as it affefted them with regard to love, 

 ^'lien 



Ilk ane fits dreary, 

 Lamenting lier deary. 



Tlius, we may obferve an unity of defign kept up 

 tliroughcut the poem. All the circumftances introdiic- 



