so soon rise above trouble or weariness as the verses of a h and the notes of a tune. And if the angels, that Jacob sang when they appeared, then I know that the ladder w he beheld was but the scale of divine music let down f heaven to earth. H. W. BEECHER IV. 169. THE PASSIONS. HEN MUSIC, heavenly maid, was young, W While yet in early Greece she sung, The Passions oft, to hear her shell, Exulting, trembling, raging, fainting,— From the supporting myrtles round In lightnings owned his secret stings: In one rude clash he struck the lyre, And swept, with hurried hands, the strings. Low sullen sounds!-his grief beguiled; A solemn, strange, and mingled air; 'Twas sad, by fits-by starts, 'twas wild. And băde the lovely scenes at distance hail! She called on ECHO still, through all her song; A soft responsive voice was heard at every close; He threw his blood-stained sword in thunder down; The war-denouncing trumpet took, And blew a blast so loud and dread, Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woes; The doubling drum with furious heat; Her soul-subduing voice applied, Yet still he kept his wild unaltered mien ; While each strained ball of sight seemed bursting from his head. 5. Thy numbers, JEALOUSY, to naught were fixed Sad proof of thy distressful state! Of differing themes the veering song was mixed; Pale MELANCHOLY sat retired; And, from her wild, sequestered seat, In notes, by distance made more sweet, Poured through the mellow horn her pensive soul; And, dashing soft from rocks around, Bubbling runnels joined the sound; Through glades and glooms the mingled measure stole ; Love of peace, and lonely musing,— In hollow murmurs died away. 6. But, oh! how altered was its sprightlier tone, When CHEERFULNESS, a nymph of healthiest hue, 7. Her bow across her shoulder flung, Her buskins gemmed with morning dew, Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung, The oak-crowned sisters, and their chaste-eyed queen, Peeping from forth their alleys green : Brown EXERCISE rejoiced to hear; And SPORT leaped up, and seized his beechen spear. Last came Joy's ecstatic trial:— He, with viny crown, advancing, First to the lively pipe his hand addressed; To some unwearied minstrel dancing; While, as his flying fingers kissed the strings, As if he would the charming air repay, Shook thousand odors from his dewy wings. COLLINS WILLIAM COLLINS, one of the most interesting and exquisite of English poets. was born at Chichester on Christmas-day, 1720. He was educated at Winchester, and Magdalen College, Oxford. Before leaving college he published the "Oriental Eclogues," which, to the disgrace of the university and the literary public, were wholly neglected. In 1744 he came to London as a literary adventurer, and about two years later published his "Odes," and made the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, who held him in the highest esteem. His life in the metropolis was irregular, and, until the death of an uncle, who left him a legacy of £2000, was one of continual hardship. On the receipt of this little fortune, he repaid Miller, the bookseller, the loss sustained by the publication of his neglecte 'Odes," which were afterward destined to become immortal. Unhappily, the seeds of disease and occasional insanity had been too deeply sown in his former poverty to be eradicated, and after a short sojourn in France, he passed through the doors of a lunatic asylum to his early home, where, in care of his sister, he died, in 1756, at the early age of thirty-six. His appearance was manly, his conversation elegant, his views extensive, his disposition cheerful, and his morals 66 1 Tempe, (têm på), a valley of European Turkey, in the N. E. of Thessaly, between the mountains of Olym pus on the N., and Ossa on the S. The beauties of its scenery are much celebrated by ancient writers. pure. He was a man of extensive literature, and of vigorous faculties. The "Oriental Eclogues" are written in a clear, correct style, and they charm by their figurative language and descriptions, the simplicity and beauty of their dialogues and sentiments, and their musical versification. No poet has been more happy in the use of metaphors and personification. Collins' "Odes" are unsurpassed by any thing of the same species of composition in the English language, and that to the "Passions" is a perfect master-piece of poetical description. V. 170. ALEXANDER'S FEAST. WAS at the royal feast for Persia won TWA By Philip's warlike son: Aloft, in awful state, The godlike hero sate, On his impērial throne. His valiant peers were placed around The lovely Thaïs by his side Sat, like an eastern blooming bride, None (nun) but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave, deserves the fair. 2. Timotheüs, placed on high Amid the tuneful choir, With flying fingers touched the lyre: The song began from Jove, 2 Tha'is, a celebrated beauty of Athens, an attendant of Alexander, who gained such influence over him, as to cause him, during a great festival at Persepolis, to set fire to the palace of the Persian kings. On the death of the conqueror, she married Ptolemy, king of Egypt, one of Alexander's generals. She is sometimes called Menandria. When he to fair Olympia' pressed, And stampt an image of himself, a sovereign of the world. "A present deity!" they shout around; "A present deity!" the vaulted roofs rebound: The monarch hears, And seems to shake the spheres. 3. The praise of Bacchus,' then, the sweet musician sung,— Of Bacchus, ever fair and ever young! The jolly god in triumph comes ! He shows his honest face. Now give the hautboys breath!-he comes! he comes! Drinking joys did first ordain : Sweet the pleasure; Sweet is pleasure, after pain! 4. Soothed with the sound, the king grew vain ; Fought all his battles o'er again; And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain, His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes! He sung Darius,' great and good, 1 Olympia (o lim'pi a), or Juno, the sister and wife of Jupiter. 1 Bacchus, or rather Dionysus, the beautiful, but effeminate god of wine, in mythology, represented as crowned with vine leaves. 'Da ri'us III., sometimes called Codomannus, in whose defeat by Alexander the Great the Persian empire was consummated, succeeded to the throne B. C. 336, and was killed 330. |