. 
1810.] Odservations on a malignant Criticism on the Columbiad. 129 
inherent in our neighbours of the North, 
can by any aid derivable from the study 
of classic literature, or the perusal of our 
own immortal poéts, assume that subli- 
mity of intellect, which elevates the poet 
and his enraptured reader, to an associa- 
tion with the glories and. splendours of 
the empyrean: 
‘* To rove the paths of Heaven, and strike the 
lyre, 
«© Warm with the- transports of celestial 
hres? 
They may be crudite; they may become 
arithmeticians, mathematicians; they may 
be learned in the principles of mechanics, 
and amaze the wosld with their acquisi- 
tions in the slow and painful march of 
abstract science; but they must wot in- 
rade the sacred regions of imagination 
—vf peetry, for the blight and the mildew 
are the inevitable attendants of their 
progress: they display an instinctive jea- 
Jousy of the rich and brilliant carcer of 
fancy (the wren and the buzzard cannot 
cope with the sunward flight and majes- 
tic ascension of the eagle;) dazzled, 
blinded by the magic hues and orient 
splendours of poesy, they are callous to 
the Graces, the Elysian bloum, 
¢¢ And all the dread sublimities of song:” 
and the name of criticism is_ pro- 
stituted to the detection of a word not 
strictly concordant with grammatical 
precision, or the dull censure of some 
novel or picturesque form of expression 
—sufficient for them that itis novel or 
picturesque. 
But enough of these gentlemen—I 
shall proceed to the consideration of the 
merits of this beautiful production of 
* the infant Muse of America,” 
In the Columbiad are united an un- 
usual breadth and loftiness of language, 
with an immensity of conception, concor- 
dant with the vastness and originality of 
the subject; a continued splendour of 
genius, a justness and novelty of simile, 
and a general harmony and mellifluous 
arrangement of verse. It cannot, per- 
haps, completely establish a claim to the 
title of Epic; but the superior talents of 
its author have proved that a poem, not 
strictly in unison with the rules of the 
€popee, may yet possess distinctions of 
a superlative nature; and that in the 
richly-varied and vigorous description 
of such a continent as Anierica, united, 
to the truths of history, the records of 
tradition, and blended with the noblest 
precepts of universal piilanthropy, the 
judicious application of philosophical re- 
search, and the whole maintaining a re- 
Monruty Mae, No. 196. | 
verential regard for the purest principles 
cf morality ; that in these a mind of native 
strenvth, allied toa rich and. inventive 
imagination, will discover materials 
wherewith to erect a poetical structure 
of imperishable duration, and transmit 
to posterity a mame, encircled with 
wreaths of brightest verdure, and plowing 
with the livt and lustre of immortality, 
The invocation to Freedom, in which 
the poet, disdaining the customary form 
of imploring the assistance of the muse, 
places the whole of iis reliance on the mas 
jesty and interesting nature of his theme, 
the establisbinent of universal concord 
and liberty, is delivered in a just and 
highly-animated strain of confideice in 
the equality of his powers to the mauage- 
ment of his subject: 
Almighty Freedom! 
son 
The force, the charm, that to thy voice bes 
long 5 
’Tis thine to shape my course, to light my 
way, 
To serve my country with the patriot lay; 
To teach ail men, where ail their interest 
lies, 
How rulers may be just and nations wise + 
Strong in thy strength, I bend no suppliant 
knee, 
Invoke no miracle, no muse but thee. 
‘give my venturous 
Mr, Barlow then proceeds to the incar- 
ceration of Columbus in the dungeons of 
Valladolid; describes the miserable situa. 
tion of the illustrious prisoner, and the 
consequent dejection of his mind, Co-. 
lumbus_ soliloquizes on the base return 
his services to the Spanish monarch 
have met with; recurs to the perilous in- 
cidents attendant upon his daring enter- 
priae; the final success with which it was 
crowned; and closes with an impassioned 
and indignant appeal to the memory of 
his sovereign patroness, Isabeila of Cas~ 
tille: imploring from death an immediate 
release from the pewer of bis oppressors, 
The surrounding gloom is suddenly ir- 
radiated by the presence of Hesper, the 
guardian genius of the New World, who 
soothes his agitated spirits with a pro- 
mised view of the important’ conse- 
quences resulting from his discoveries: 
the most prominent parts of bis speech [ 
shall select, for the gratification of the’ 
reader: 
‘¢ Awed into slaves, while groveling millions 
groan, 
And blood-stained steps lead upward to a 
‘ throne 5 
Far other wreaths thy virtuous temp’e 
twine, 
Far nobler triumphs crown a life like thine ; 
ease R Thiig 
