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delight; and, what can scarcely be said of any other work, it is equally the favourite of the young and of the old; of the learned and of the illiterate; of the peer and of the peasant. We could point out many passages of simple tenderness and exquisite beauty; but we despair of imparting the sentiments, in the words in which they are written, to an English ear. The following lines, extracted from Peggy's sorrowing farewel to her lover, will probably remind the classical reader of the Galatea of Virgil; but we can assure him that the lasciva puella is no where to be found in the Gentle Shepherd:

Nae mair again we'll on the meadows play,
Nor rin, half breathless, round the rucks of hay;
Where aftentimes I've fled frae thee, right fain,
And fa'en, on purpose that I might be ta'en.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

OF THE HIGHER SPECIES OF POETRY.

We have hitherto spoken only of such simple poetical effusions as, being each directed to a single object, keep that object invariably in view. But the subject of a poem may be of a compound nature, embracing many separate acts, persons, and circumstances combined into one whole; and these are the compositions which we here designate by the title of the higher species, although they are not always of a higher worth. A composite poem (if really poetical) may be compared to a string of jewels, connected by links of baser materials; while a simple and smaller production may exhibit only a single pearl, but "more precious than all the tribe."

The class of poems, now under consideration, may be conveniently viewed under three distinct heads:

1. Tales and Romances;

2. Epic and Dramatic Poetry; 3. Didactic and Descriptive.

All of which may be either satyrical or encomiastic;-grave or gay.

In the minor poems, the merit consists in the interest and congruity of the thoughts, and the elegance of the language in which those thoughts are expressed. The higher class are more lengthened and varied; and, much of them being necessarily narrative, they require to be strewed over with flowers and studded with gems, which, by their odours and sparkling, may keep up the attention of the auditors during the duller recitations of the tale. The direct means employed for this purpose are,-in the first place, the due use and admixture of those figures of speech which we have already described; and, secondly, a sort of Religion, (or rather Superstition) which, in different forms, but in every nation, has always been peculiar to the bard.

The untutored observer ascribes the various phenomena of nature to the will of invisible powers, endowed like himself with conscious existence. The thunder rolls over his head; and he supplicates the god of the thunder. The rivers overflow their banks and fertilize, or lay waste, the plains; and he creates, in imagination, the naiads and the demons of the streams. Thus were formed the numerous deities of every savage nation; and the conflicts of the elements were

ignorantly believed to arise from the wars of their gods. The mythologies (or fabulous religions) of all countries have had a like origin; and, it was probably after the lapse of many ages that the philosophers of Egypt (or possibly of a still more ancient nation) succeeded in classifying the discordant multitude of the popular divinities; the chief of whom, fixing their abodes among the stars, still, occasionally, visited the earth; and, (according to the subsequent fictions) held their synods on Mount Olympus. The Greek poets and their Roman imitators, extended the empire of imagination. They peopled every fountain, every hill, and every grove with beings of celestial origin; and, in addition, those immortals of mortal creation played a splendid part in all the pursuits of human life. The petty affairs of families were influenced by their Lares, or household gods; while the more momentous transactions of nations were directed by the hierarchy of the heavens. It is hence that the poems of Greece and Rome are as much the histories of the gods as of men; the actions being intermingled in the same manner as the fairies, ghosts, and witches of the north are interwoven in the tales and ballads of our ruder ancestors. The learning of modern Europe, however, following that of the Greeks and Romans, has

familiarized us with the classic mythology, which has become the creed of the poets of the present time, to the exclusion of the equally fabulous legends of the Celts and the Scandinavians.

A Tale (from to tell) is, literally, any thing told, and may relate events that are either real, or feigned. When those events are believed to have really happened, the Tale is termed a History. A Romance is a Tale of interesting or wonderful adventures, and has its name from those that were recited by the Troubadours, (inventors) or wandering minstrels, who, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, enlivened the warlike courts of the greater portion of Europe, with stories of the military achievements of crusading knights; of their gallantry and the unshaken fidelity of each to the lady whom he loved. A corrupted Latin dialect, called Provençal, or Provincial, by the inhabitants of Rome, and Romanzo, or Romish, by the Gothic nations, was, at that period, spoken along the northern coast of the Mediterranean, from Murcia, in Spain, through the whole of the south of France to Pisain Italy; and extending inland along the Ebro, the Rhone and the Po. It was in this language that the Troubadours spoke, or sung; and hence their Tales were termed Romances. Some of those pieces were spoken in prose;-oftener in

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