434 _ 
She, crown’d with olive-green, came foftly 
fliding y 
Down thro’ the turning fphere, 
His ready harbinger, 
With turtle-wing the amorous clouds divid- 
ing 3 vice 
And waving wide her myrtle wand, 
She firikes an univerfal peace thro’ fea and 
Wana 
Tam acquainted with no addition to 
the imagery in thefe lines by other poets. 
It is fcarcely neceflary to take notice of 
the inaccuracy of ‘ufing the word peace in 
a Titeral fenfe, inthe fame paflage with its 
perfonification. Spenter 1s occafoaally 
guilty of the fame fault, which could 
only be owing to inattention. 
Mercy is depicted by Spenfer as a 
“potent queen, furrounded with all the 
fplendour of Majeity, yet tempered by be- 
nignity. It is however to be under- 
flood, that the courtly poet defigns his 
Mercilla 23 a type of his mifirefs, queen 
Elizabeth. The defcription of her attire 
may be compared with that of the fera- 
phic drels of Raphael in the Par. Loft. 
Ail over her, a clothof ftate was fpread, 
Not of rich tiffue, or of cloth of gold, 
Nor of aught elfethat may be richeft read, 
But like a cloud, as like may be told, 
That her broad-fpreading wings did wide en- 
fold 5 
Whofe {kirts were bordered with bright funny 
beams, : 
‘Gliftering like gold among the plights en- 
rol’d, 
And here and there fhosting forth filver 
ftreams, 
>Mongft which crept little angels through the 
glittring gleams. Baa Nios 
She holds a fceptre, and befcre her lies 
a fword, rufted through long difufe. 
Under her feet a huge lion 1s chained, 
which is not rendered fo tame, but that 
Yet did he murmur with rebellious found, 
And foitly reyne, when falvage choler did 
abound. 
The emblematical part of this portrait 
is eafily underftood. She is nat a merely 
human perfonage: her wings and radiant 
cloud denote her heavenly origin. Even 
without the allufion to queen Elizabeth, 
fhe may be faid to be of royal rank ; fince 
the exercife of mercy implies power, and 
in moft countries has been referved as the 
diftinguifhing attribute of fovereignty. 
The (word, rufted, yet capable of being 
drawn; and the lion, curbed, but not 
tamed ; mark out the true nature and 
limits of this quality. 
However appropriate to its objeét the 
receding delineation may appear, yet 
@ellins has invented a very different and 
Perfonifications in Poetry. 
[ Dee, 
at the fame time an exquifitely beautiful 
picture of the fame morat perionage. 
O thow, who fir a fmiling bride 
By valour’s arm’d and awful fide, 
entleft of fky-born forms, and beft ador’d; 
Who oft, with fongs divine to hear, 
Win’ft from his fatal grafp the fpear, 
And hid’ in wreaths of flowers his bloodlefs 
{word! 
Thou who, amidit the deathful field, 
By godlike chiefs alone beheld, 
Oft with thy bofom bare art found, 
Pleading for him, the youth who finks toe 
ground ! “Ode to Mercy. 
This enchanting figure, though called 
<¢ fky-born,’’ is not diftinguifhed in ap- 
pearance and character from a mortal 
fair; indeed no embiem or fupernatural 
attribute was necellary to render Mercy 
fufficiently impreflive under the form of a 
beautiful female. Another touch of na« 
ture in the ade is truly picturefque ; 
and dook'd his rage away. 
That Mercy fhould be fo clofely allied te 
Valour as to deferve the title of his mytho- 
logical bride, were certainly to be wifhed ; 
and underftanding valour to be courage 
united to generofity, the idea, I think, is 
a juft one. Ke 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
r {ROM the attention which you have 
‘paid to my letter, giving an expla- 
nation of fome Law Scotticifms, I ain in- 
duced to lay before the public, through 
the channel of your magazine, a lift of 
Scotticifms in common language. I do 
not mean to give a gloffary of the now 
almoft obfolete Scottifh words, but te 
point out to my countrymen (for I am a 
native of Scotiand) fome of the many im- 
proper expreffions which are daily ufed im 
the mof tafhionable gircles in the city of 
Edinburgh ; which are fpoken and even 
written by the firft literary characters ; 
which disfigure the fpeeches of the coun- 
fel and the deliberations of the judges of 
the fupreme courts; which laftly the 
Scotch members do not fail occafionally 
to introduce into the fenate, to the 
aftonifhment of the Englifh auditor*. 


Sir 
* Of this there are two memorable in- 
ftances. Mr. Montcomery, now chief 
baron of the court of Exchequer, in Scot. 
land, when lord advocate and member for 
Peeblesthire, made a fpeech on fome im-~ 
portant queftion, in the houfe of commons, 
where he mentioned his having made a note 
of fomething or other with a keeliveyne per—es 
the-members, puzzled to difcover the mean- 
jng of this outlandish werd, and amufed with 
the 


