75 L 
POE 
Nor was his mother’s race lets ftrong and brave, 
Sprung from a flock that grew on fair Il'menus’ wave. 
Antiftrophe III. 
Though for long intervals obfcur’d, again 
Oft-times the feeds.of lineal worth appear, 
For neither can the furrow’d plain 
Full harvefl yield with each returning year; 
Nor in each period will the pregnant bloom 
Invert thefmiling tree with rich perfume. 
So barren often, and inglorious, pafs 
The generations of a noble race; 
While nature’s vigour, working at the root. 
In after-ages fwells, and blofibms into fruit. 
Epode III. 
Nor hath Jove giv’n us to foreknow 
When the rich years of virtue fhall fucceed ; 
Yet bold and daring on we go, 
Contriving fchemes of many a mighty deed ; 
While hope, fond inmate of the human mind, 
And felf-opinion, a6Hve, rafli, and blind, 
I-Iold up a falfe illufive ray, 
That leads our dazzled feet aftray 
Far from the fprings, where, calm and flow, 
The fecret ftreams of wifdom flow. 
Hence fliould we learn our ardour to reftrain. 
And limit to due bounds the thirft of gain. 
To rage and madnefs oft that paflion turns, 
Which with forbidden flames defpairing burns. Weft. 
The Elegy differs from the Ode in exprefling grief ; 
it laments the lofs of friends or of lovers; talks of death, 
remorfe, or privation. It is therefore of fmooth and po- 
lifhed verfe ; long, tender, and harmonious, and as regu¬ 
lar as portable. Gray’s well-known Elegy may be men¬ 
tioned as the firftof examples. Byron’s Monody on She¬ 
ridan holds alfo a high rank in this fpecies. 
The Song is a fhort example either of the Ode or of the 
Elegy. It either joys or grieves. Anacreon and Moore 
are the only perfeft fong-writers. We give two examples 
from the former writer. The latter, who is inferior, is 
well known. 
On the Power of Gold. 
Love’s a pain that works our woe ; 
Not to love is painful too: 
But, alas! the greateft pain 
Waits the love that meets difdain. 
What avails ingenuous worth 
Sprightly wit, or noble birth ? 
All thefe virtues ufelefs prove; 
Gold alone engages love. 
May he be completely currt, 
Who the fleeping mifchief firft 
Wak’d to life, and, vile before, 
Stamp’d with worth the fordid ore. 
Gold creates in brethren ftrife; 
Gold deftroys the parent’s life; 
Gold produces civil jars. 
Murders, maflacres, and wars; 
But the worft effedl of gold, 
Love, alas! is bought and fold. Paulies. 
On Cupid Jlung by a See, 
Once as Cupid, tir’d with play, 
On a bed of rofes lay, 
A rude bee, that flipt unfeen 
The fweet breathing buds between. 
Stung his finger, cruel chance! 
With its little pointed lance. 
Straight he fills the air with cries, 
Weeps, and fobs, and runs, and flies; 
’Till the god to Venus came, 
Lovely laughter-loving dame : 
T R Y. 
Then he thus begun to plain ; 
“ Oh ! undone—I die with pain : 
Dear mamma, a ferpent final], 
Which a bee the ploughman call, 
Imp’d with wings and arm’d with dart, 
Oh ! has flung me to the heart.” 
Venus thus reply’d and fmil’d : 
“ Dry thole tears for fiiame ! my child ; 
If a bee can wound fo deep, 
Caufing Cupid thus to weep, 
Think, O think ! what cruel pains 
He that’s flung by thee fuftains.” Fawkes. 
Of all the imitations of the playful bard of Greece that 
we have ever met with, the moft perfedt is the following 
Anacreontic by the regent duke of Orleans. 
Je fuis ne pour les plailirs; 
Bien fou qui s’en pafle : 
Je ne veux pas les choifir; 
Souvent le choix m’embarrafle. 
Airne t’on ? j'aime foudain ; 
Bois t’on ? j’ai la verre a la main ; 
Je tiens par tout ma place. 
Dormireft un temps perdu; 
Faut il qu’on s’ylivre? 
Sommeil, prends ce qui t’eft du; 
Mais attends que je fois yvre : 
Saifis moi dans cet inftant; 
Fais moi dormir promptement; 
Je fuis prefle de vivre. 
Mais, ft quelque objet charmant, 
Dans un fonge aimable, 
Vient d’un plaifir feduifant 
M’oft’rir l’image agreable; 
Sommeil, allons doucement; 
L’erreur eft en ce moment 
Un bonheur veritable. 
The narrative poem, arifing out of the ode, is found in 
rude ages to be wild, irregular, and digreflive; occafion- 
ally allowing high flights of fublimity; often creeping 
and mean ; but ever abounding in adventure and in the 
marvellous. The Odyffey among the Greeks, and nearly 
all the Italian poems, have this form. In a more refined 
age, the narration has acquired a beautiful regularity. 
Byron and Scott may be cited as examples. 
Dida£lic poetry is that which profefies morals or fcience; 
and, when knowledge was in a mediocre ftate of advance¬ 
ment, was perhaps of fome ufe. Now, on either of thefe 
topics we require the ftrong ftimuli of the drama or the 
romance to awake the feelings, and a ftridt logic to con¬ 
vince the reafon. Hence didaflic poems are paid little 
attention to. Perhaps the praife they elicited from our 
fathers arofe rather from the good motives of the latter 
than from the real gratification the former had power to 
give. Young’s Night Thoughts, though tedious, is per¬ 
haps the heft didadlic poem on morals we have ; for Pope’s 
much-read Eflay is radically wrong. Akenfide’s Pleafures 
of the Imagination, Virgil’s Georgies, Horace’s, Pope’s, 
and Boileau’s, Arts of Poetry, and Armftrong’s Treatife 
on Health, are the chief dida<Slic poems on knowledge; 
but they are much diverfified by narrations. 
Satire is poetry tending to a good end, by abufing and 
ridiculing vice. Juvenal and Horace hold in this ftyle 
the firft rank ; but abufe and mere ridicule tires from its 
famenefs. Hence nobody can patiently read through the 
whole of Juvenal or Horace. As with thedidadtic fo with 
the fatiric forts of poetry; the matter pleafes beft which 
is conveyed in a dramatic or narrative form. The Co¬ 
medies of Ariftophanes were better fatires than the Latin 
fchool ever produced ; and Hudibras overturns hypocrify 
and falfe knowledge far better than all the fatires in the 
Englifli language put together. 
The fubjeft brings us once more into that extenfive 
field 
