544 
robbed poetry of many of its provinces, 
when he appeared in the and 
hewed his way through-the thickeft of 
the enemy : nor, perhaps, did he. lefs 
ferve his country’s caufe, when.he re- 
_ corded, in his immortal tragedy, entitled 
Perfe, the difcomfiture of its foes, and 
the heroifm of the Grecian ‘warriors. 
This lived after him, a perpetual incen- 
tive to patriotic deeds. 
«¢ After the Athenians were freed from 
anks, 
the oppreffion of the family of Pififtra-— 
tus, they lavithed every teftrmony of 
yefpe€t on the memory of “the youths 
who confpired againit Hippias, and pe- 
rifhed in their attempt to rid their coun- 
try of a tyrant. It was cuftomary to 
Sng, at their entertainments, fongs~ in 
praife of Harmodius and Ariftogiton. 
One of thefe fongs has ‘furvived the ruin 
of Greece, and has been tranflated; with’ 
elegance and f{pirit, by the learned and~- 
patriotic Sir William Jones. 3 
«¢ Phe teftimony of antiquity confirm 
the fuppofition’ which is involuntarily’ 
formed ih every tind, that.a familiar 
acquaintance with compofitions fuch as 
this, inculcating. a~ reverence for the 
vindicators of public ‘freedom, tended; 
in no flight degree, to generate and con- 
firm, in the minds of the Greeks, a de- 
teftation of tyrants, and to animate them 
in their exertions againft the invaders of 
their liberties. 
“ Permit mé to call to your recolleétion 
yet another inftance, in which the magic 
power of verfe is faid to-haveroufed to 
action :— When the Lacedzmoniars were 
envaged in a deftruétive war with the 
Meffenians, by the advice of an oracle 
they fent tothe Athenians for a general 
ro conduét their armies. The Athenians, 
deriding their credulity, fent them Tyr- 
tzus, afchool-mafter and poet, entirely 
unaccuftomed.to the works of war. This 
man, it is faid, fo animated ther, by his 
military fongs, that, though their {ptrits 
had been entirely broken by. ill fuccefs, 
they recovered theirenergy, and entire- 
Jy vanguithed their adveriaries. 
“« ‘Two or three of thefe war-fongs, to 
which hiftorians have attributed fuch vir- 
the,. have reachéd our times. «Their 
‘rough fimplicity are well calculated to 
make a forcible impreffion on the mind. 
‘No tranflation of Tyrtzeus has hither- 
to fallen into my hands. Had it cccur- 
red to Sir William Jones to lay before 
his countrymen the practical exhorta- 
tions of this polemic pedagogue, toge- 
ther with the dignified politics of Al- 
czus, I could have prefented a verfion 
~ 
On the Charaéterifiies of Poetry. 
. [Sup./ 
worthy of the honeft fpirit of the origi-’ 
nal.- A defire of giving a fpecimen, at, 
leaft, of the topics of this author, has 
induced me to hazard the following at-, - 
tempt at a tranflation of the moft inte- 
refting of fach of his fianzas as the hand 
of time has {pared : 
° TRANSLATION FROM TYRTAUS. 
Mute are my chords when beauty claims the 
fong, - 52m i 
Or kingly grace, or Hmbs of giant mold, 
No praife of mine extois the honey’d tongue, — 
The racer’s fwiftnefs, or the gleam of gold, . 
My theme’s the youth who views with fteady.. 
eyes 
The biceane carnage, and the grin of death; 
*Midét t> -keft battle claims the vi€tor’s prize, 
And isan ta man difputes the Jaurel wreath. - 
Bleft by his country’s praife, his parent’s fmile, 
” He views the waite of ‘life, nor feels appalt ; 
Firm at his poft and foremof in the file, 
With dauntiefs breaft he fees his comrade fall. 
With finewy arm he fiems the wave of war, 
O’er adverfe hofts he fratters wild difmay ; 
Recklefs of life he guides his griding car, 
Where danger frowns amid the bloody fray. 
And falls the youth !—he falls, his country’s 
9Ys 
His pice pride ; who tells each jhoneft 
wound, 
Points to the fiffur’d buckler of his boy, 
‘And fmiles in tears while all his praife re- 
found. 
His children’s children, bending o'er his tomb, 
Shall date their glories from his honour’d 
name. 
Thus, wrapt in earth, he “{capes the vulgar 
doom, a Meat 
And lives for ever in the rolls of fame 
« But, indeed, what occafion have we 
to fearch into the duft of antiquity for 
examples of the influence of verfe upon 
human conduct ? The tranfactions of our 
own times may teach us, that as ftrong 
feelings generate poetic language, fo po- 
etic language infpires the mind with, at 
Jeaft, a temporary enthufiafm, and thus 
impels to action. In this country, the 
fervour of lovalty has of late been blown 
into a blaze, and for this event the par- 
ties interefted are not a little indebted 
to the affifitance of the mufes. And when 
the Marfeillois Hymn echoed through 
the ranks of the Prench army, at the. 
field of Jemappe, we need not wonder that 
‘“‘ the fpear of Liberty was weilded with 
claffic grace,’ and that the energy of he- 
roilm was communica‘ed with the found. 
«« Thefe confiderations will, perhaps, 
tend to ftrengthen the conclufion to 
which our enguiry has been drawn, the 
tecms of which, I am happy to vary, by 
adoptmmg the elegant language of a 
writer, eminent for the refinement of 
. Rds 
a 
