BARTRAM'S INFLUENCE ON LITERATURE 131 



He heard a voice distinctly; 'twas the youth's 

 Who sung a doleful song about green fields, 

 How sweet it were on lake or wild savannah 

 To hunt for food, and be a naked man. 

 And wander up and down at liberty. 



But if these lines are influenced by Bartram, why not lines 230- 

 35 ? They are spoken by the same character, Foster-Mother, and 

 complete the story of the unhappy youth: 



In spite of his dissuasion seized a boat. 



And all alone set sail by silent moonlight, 



Up a great river, great as any sea, 



And ne'er was heard of more; but it is supposed 



He lived and died among the savage men. 



The truth seems to be that in both passages typical elements of 

 Bartram's country are apparent: the green fields, the lake, the 

 wild savannah, the hunt for food, the naked man, the wander- 

 ing up and down at liberty, and, again, the silent moonlight, 

 the " great river, great as any sea." ^^ 



However, there are more than these two passages in Osorio 

 suggestive of Bartram. In Act I Albert speaks to Maria: 



On a rude rock, 

 A rock, methought, fast by a grove of firs 

 Whose thready leaves to the low breathing gale 

 Made a soft sound most like the distant ocean, 

 I stay'd . . . 



The dews fell clammy, and the night descended, 

 Black, sultry, close ! and ere the midnight hour 

 A storm came on, mingling all sounds of fear 

 That woods and sky and mountains seem'd one havock! 

 The second flash of lightning show'd a tree 

 Hard by me, newly-scath'd (303-315). 



Bartram's impressive storms have already been mentioned. ^^ 

 This passage recalls all the elements of a Bartram storm: " the 

 furious winds and sweeping rains bent the lofty groves " (p. 



^^ Cf . Bartram's description of the way he set sail " alone " up the "' great 

 river " St. Johns, against the importunings of his host, Mr. Marshall (p. 77-78) 

 and of the river where it widens into Lake George upon whose " swelling seas " 

 Bartram's boat diminishes " to a nutshell " (p. 101). 



" See Part II. 



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